All For This
by DisturbingFunctions
Summary: When Jean was little he made a mistake that would follow him through life. He avoided people, people avoided him. When very few people actually forgive him or speak to him, what happens when in his Junior year a new student, Marco, enters his life and throws all of that off. Jean is excited for this new friendship, or is it something more? Many ships to follow. (Awful Summary)
1. Nice to Meet You

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shengeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan or the characters. Only the plot and story are mine. **

**Note: High School AU, somewhat OOC, but that's to be expected from an AU I guess. I love feedback and will do everything that I can to respond immediately. This is my first chaptered fanfic, so tell me if I need to fix anything or if you'd like something changed. Pairings that will PROBABLY be included, but will develop and not just be thrown in are as follows: JeanxMarco (Of course), KristaxYmir, LevixErwin or LevixEren, ReinerxBertholt, ConniexSasha, MikexPetra or OluoxPetra, and either ArminxEren, ArminxAnnie, or ArminxMikasa. Tell me which ones that you prefer and remember, these are possibilities, I know that these are a lot of ships, and some probably won't develop too far or will just be added fluff at the end. BUT MAIN STORY FOLLOWS JEANXMARCO! Enjoy! (Krista and Ymir will be official, though.)**

**To new readers, I've combined the first two chapters into this because they were too short, so if I messed it up, please let me know and I'll fix it.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

Jean Kirschtein had gone through his years at Trost Middle School and his first two years at Trost High School with very few friends. The only people that willingly talked to him on a regular basis and hung out with him were his two friends Sasha Braus, and Connie Springer. He was fine with that, honered even that he had the troublesome duo at his side when he needed them. He was alright with pushing through life lazily, avoiding most people or most people avoiding him. The main reason for this is because in Elementary school, he and the Jaegar kid got into a fist fight, and Eren ended up in the hospital, but it was also right after his mom had died in a gruesome accident. The two of them had gotten past it mostly, why couldn't everyone else? Jean had the people that sat with him at lunch only because of the other people sitting there as well, the only exception to this were Sasha and Connie for him, but Eren and Armin were there for them, Mikasa (the fine beauty she was) for Eren, Reiner and Bertholt because they knew everyone there, Annie for them, Krista for the same reason as Reiner and Bertholt, Ymir for her, Levi because he was to watch over Eren after he accidentally almost killed a kid in AirBall, Erwin for Levi, Hanji for Levi, Mike for the heck of it, Petra, Erd, Gunther, and Oluo for Levi. Jean just kind of sat there.

Jean was reminded of this as he walked through his, now memorized, schedule that he had gotten a week prior at the beginning of his Junior year on the first day. It was just like the year before only with a few different looks, new classes, and new teachers, and at this point in the year, AirBall hadn't even started up. As Jean entered his first class of the day, Spanish, he groaned as he looked at the board. In bold words it stated, **"Partner Projects". **Great. No one took Spanish first period with him besides Krista and Ymir, and they were definitely going to pair up, just as they always did since the eighth grade when Ymir confessed her undying love to Krista. Yeah, it was awkward for everyone in the classroom. Jean was screwed.

His thoughts were interrupted by a figure sitting next to him. Jean sat in the far back right corner. Nobody ever took the seat next to him besides in rare cases when Krista and Ymir remembered that he was in there. Jean turned his head to look at who had taken that unheard of step and immediately had to look up. The kid was pretty well built, about four inches taller than himself, had messy brown hair that came to his eyes, and an even bigger mess of freckles. He noticed Jean's stare and gave him a huge, freakishly beautiful smile that could outshine a fire. Jean continued staring. Smooth.

"Hi, I'm Marco. I just moved here, I hope this seat isn't taken," His voice was smooth, sweet, and innocent, though deep and mature at the same time. But that explains a lot. He still hadn't here the stupid stories still going around about "Jean Kirschtein, yeah the kid that beat up poor Eren because he said that he'd never get Mikasa to go out with him. Yeah, I heard it was so bad, that Eren ended up in the hospital, and it was right after his mom died too," Yup, those stories.

"I'm Jean Kirschtein. I've lived in Trost my whole life and can't seem to find the way out," Jean groaned. Marco only laughed in response. His laughter rang like bells, loud, clear and calming. Wait, why was he thinking like this?

"Anyway, I saw that it says partners on the board, mind if we work together? You seem really cool, but if you wanna work with someone else I completely understand" Marco was still smiling.

"Nah, I'm always the person someone else is stuck with, so you might want to rethink that statement," Jean put his chin in his hand.

"I doubt that, but just a warning, my Spanish is very rusty," Still. Smiling.

"That makes two of us. French is my second language, my mom forced me into Spanish," Jean fiddled with his pencil because the freckled freak's smile was almost as contagious as the laugh had been.

"Spanish really helps you in business and opens you up to so much of the world," Marco. Was. Still. Smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard this before," Jean put his head down. Marco's laughter filled the noisy room once again. The conversation was pleasant enough and Jean would have loved to continue it, if it hadn't been for the teacher's shrill voice breaking the groups of voices and noises the kids were making apart.

"Good morning students, please do as the board says today while I set things up. Choose wisely and pick someone who you can work efficiently with," Yeah right, Krista was immediately pulled into Ymir's lap and a few boys pointed to each other to divide the group into sets of two. Marco smiled at Jean again and Jean couldn't help but give a little smile back.

"Good, now will everyone look at me? Today you have chosen partners to work with for a project. That project will be researching any Spanish historic figure and writing a report on them, in Spanish. Are there any questions? The requirements for length and such will be the same as the essays on the syllabus I gave you at the beginning of the year. You have one month to turn this in, so it better be good. You may begin," And with that she went to her desk and got on her phone.

"Mind if we share your syllabus for this?" Marco asked.

"How about you explain to Mrs. Gonzales that you're new and would like a syllabus of your own, then we share that," Jean was smirking now.

"What happened to yours? Trash ben?" Marco quirked his head to the side, causing his hair to fall to the side also.

"No, but it might just be in the paper you get on Sunday, I'm not totally conceded," Jean was full on smiling now.

"Oh, so you're a hippy now?" Marco said getting up and walking to the teacher.

Jean heard something and looked to the side to see Krista on Ymir's lap still with them both staring at him. Ymir leans to the side a bit to let Jean know that she's talking to him and then whisper-screams, "GET IT!"

Cue face-palm.

Marco comes back to the table and they get started with only a few more looks from Ymir that are suggestive, and some apologetic ones from Krista. The project goes well and they get quite a bit done. Jean felt very open and comfortable around the freckled cutie-wait, never mind. But they bonded a considerable amount in the one hour class. They make plans to meet after school at the library next week and Jean can't help but be excited and jittery. He makes it through the next two classes with a sort of buzzing in his stomach and a really good mood, even though he was disappointed when he had neither with Marco. Everyone was kind of surprised when the perpetual scowl that sat across his face was an upturned, relaxed smile. That relaxed smile turned ecstatic grin when Marci decided to take the seat next to him at lunch. Pretty much everyone had already met him or had seen him in one of their classes. Jean, however wasn't ok with knowing the guy, he wanted to be friends with him. He had never reached out to anyone since the accident, but Marco was different. Marco was Marco.

Jean had three more classes after lunch and Marco was in every one. He always took the seat next to Jean and they talked through most of the class. Jean saw the beginning of a new friendship. A close friendship.

* * *

AirBall: A sport of agility, strength, tactic, coordination, and will power. They used special 3-D maneuver gear and the old worn down and abandoned part of the school out by Wall Maria. The goal was to knock all of the other opponents (Other school's teams) out of the air and push them out of bounds. To hit someone out of the air you have to use your pairing sticks, which looked somewhat like batons, and either get up close and hit them for no points or hit them with a ball from a distance for 5 points. From there the goal is to hit, push, shove, fight, throw, or in any other way to get them out of bounds. The Boundaries are huge though, with the space out by Wall Maria. For any reason, if there is a misunderstanding, call of foul play, mass severe injury, or mass death, there will be a counting of points and a winner will be chosen by such. An unjust call of foul play is dealt with through paralyses. Paralysis is where the accusing team is set up in a line 5 meters from the boundaries and the accused team is free to do whatever to get them over the boundaries while they are unable to fight back. This game is very dangerous and is accepted by very few schools. It has cased many deaths and even more injuries.

* * *

The next day was Tuesday and as I slouched through the door to the Spanish room, I immediately heard the voice of Marco. I turned around to look behind me to reveal the freckled boy himself surrounded by the trio; Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. Armin wasn't too bad, we had actually developed a sort of closeness, Mikasa was a smoking hot momma bear and her cub was Eren. Eren was annoying, self centered and took for granted what he had. Of course Eren and I weren't avoiding each other and at each other's throats continually anymore, but we were certainly not friends by any means. It showed to, during AirBall, it'd be hard to tell that we were on the same team if it weren't for the distinct Wings of Freedom emblem and Scouting Legion uniform. And there he was. Talking to Marco. I felt a wave of dread as I heard my name. I walked by silently in hope to hear more of the conversation. I expected the worse.

"That asshole? Why on Earth would you work with him? I'm sure you can still get out of it if you talk to the teacher," Eren looked astonished.

"He's not that bad, and anyways, I like him. He's different from your generic two-toned hair, bad attitude, loner guy. He's open to talk, people just don't do it with him often," So the dickface failed to get Marco to hate me.

"You're insane. But anyways, good luck with him," Eren sang as he turned to go to his next class.

"Good luck with who?" I asked as I glared at Eren.

"Eren was just kidding around. I think I can handle you, though," Marco smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. This only proved I was right when I figured that Marco was a close, hugging person.

"We'll see," Was my response as I escaped Marco's tight grasp and walked back to class.

"That was different," Armin turned to follow Eren who was looking just as confused as Armin felt.

"To homo or not to homo," Mikasa got two wide eyed stares as she gave the slightest little smirk.

Spanish was fun considering all that I did was throw blank paper wads at Marco's face during class, but after Spanish, I actually had to pay attention in class until lunch or risk falling asleep. When lunch did finally come around, I was on auto-pilot. I made my way through the line and got chicken noodle soup, which could hardly even be considered 'chicken' noodle soup. I sat down at the usual table and found the space next to mine occupied by a freckled boy with messy brown hair.

"Sup, Freckles," I mumbled as I stared my soup down, not making any move to eat it.

"Are you giving me a nick-name, or did you just forget my name already?" Was Marco's response, served with a side of smile.

"Your name is Marco Bodt," I replied giving him a glance before returning to my soup-glaring.

"I don't think that I ever told you my last name," Marco cocked his head to the side, "are you stalking me?"

"Role-call moron."

Armin sat down then, "Don't call people morons, Jean, it's not nice."

"Yeah, and don't lose the only person in this school that might actually like you," Eren sat down next to Armin, followed by Mikasa.

"And what sort of 'Like' might we be talking about here?" Sasha said taking her place.

_'Shit, there ganging up on us. If I don't want this to get awkward, something has to happen.'_

"That's for me to know," Marco chirped.

_'Holy Fuck'_

The table got quiet. I could feel my face light up in a bright red as I gawked at Marco. Eren and Armin looked at Marco as if he had three heads while Mikasa sat there looking amused. Sasha looked like she was ready to scream for joy.

"What'd we miss here?" Reiner said as he, Bertholt, Krista, and Ymir all took their seats.

"Nothing," I shouted and proceeded to shove a spoonful of the dreadful soup into my mouth. Perhaps if I hadn't glared at it and instead, been nicer to it, it wouldn't have tasted so bad, cold, and bitter as everyone's eyes shifted to me. I had to save myself.

"Just Eren being an idiot -as usual- and Marco shutting him up," I continued in a calm, casual voice.

"Yeah, sure," Sasha said moving in on her lunch.

* * *

After lunch I continued to throw paper wads at Marco in my other classes. I don't understand why he insisted on checking every one of them, none of them in the last two whole classes said anything. In the last class of the day however, I was oh-so-glad that he did check them. We were having a quiz and Marco was looking especially lost, so I decided to help him out. I saw the numbers that he had skipped and was going over, wrote the answer that I was almost positive was correct for each one, and threw it straight at his nose when the teacher, , wasn't looking. Marco blinked a few times and the realized what had hit him. He picked up the paper and opened it carefully. His eyes grew larger at the site of what laid before him. He looked at me and then at Mr. Hannes with the same panicked look. I gave him a nod of my head and that seemed to reassure him that he wasn't going to get caught.

Marco took to reading over the note and writing the words down in his own. I just watched him as the tip of his pink tongue poked out of the side of his mouth. When he was finished with copying down the answers the crumbled and stuffed the paper into his pocket. He looked over at me and did something that I thought I was going to die over.

Marco blew me a kiss.

The dork had given me the biggest, cheesiest, most genuine smile you could give a person, and blew me a kiss. My lips tilted upward and my coughs were forced and obviously fake as I tried to cover up my laughter. Mr. Hannes held a finger up to me as a warning. I quickly got control over myself and looked back to Marco. There he sat, as if nothing had happened, playing with his pencil. After the test, Mr. Hannes gave us permission to talk and I immediately turned to Marco.

"You know, you're one of the only people I talk to, and I still don't know very much about you. So, tell me about yourself. Pets? Family?" I asked.

"I have a dog named Chibble and I live with my parents and eight siblings," Marco stated.

"Chibble? And wait, how many siblings?" My eyes widened.

"My little sister named him. She was number six of eight," He looked kind of uncomfortable.

"Oh, sorry, I've just never met someone with so much family. It must be nice, but get crowded," I looked to him.

"Yeah, I love them all, but being around them all of the time and having to entertain them while my parents are at work gets kinda hard," he looked down at his desk. "But what about you?"

"No pets, only child," I replied.

"Simple," Marco pointed out.

"Anyway, do you have a girlfriend? A crush? A woman that takes your breath away?" I wiggled my brows at him.

"Oh, ha, no girlfriend," Marco blushed.

"What about a girl you like? Or at least think are hot," I asked scooting closer.

"Umm, no. Never a girl," Marco's face was red.

You could probably see the gears turning in my head. The realization of what he meant by 'Never girls' sinking in.

"Oh," I said.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone now if you want," Marco looked utterly defeated.

"Seriously? Man, I don't care," I said.

"Y-you don't?" Marco looked back to me.

"Dude, I'm bi. I don't care," I smiled as his face turned from relieved to happy.

* * *

It wouldn't hit me until I got home that day all of the events leading up to our confessions of our sexuality. All of the things that could have possibly been flirting. I wasn't sure if I was really happy, or really fucking upset that I was interested in the only guy in the school who would talk to me and hang out with me besides Connie. And anyway, at least if it had been Connie, I wouldn't have to worry about it since he is straight and currently crushing hard on the only girl that would talk and hang out with me, Sasha.


	2. So Now I Meet the Real You?

Disclaimer:** I do not own Shengeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan or the characters. Only the plot and story are mine. **

**Note: For all of you wondering about my update plans; I plan on updating at an average of every seven or so days. It's summer so I have more time to write, but life likes to blow up on me. If you have any feedback for me, I'd be more than happy to hear it. And thanks to all who reviewed, PMed me and requested other stories. You are my inspiration.**

**I seriously locked myself in my room with apple juice to write this chapter. Also, I'm hoping to be able to write longer chapters, so it may take more time to write and update it. The only reason they're usually pretty short is because I want to shoot them out there. Please don't be afraid to catch me on my mistakes, I can barely catch my own, I'm a side editor, but I can't catch my own mistakes for the life of me. **

**Enjoy~**

**Still going first person with this. This will be from Jean's Point of View and Marco's. Distinct notifications will clarify the change in POV. Please enjoy, and criticism is loved and welcome.**

* * *

_Jean's POV_

Getting to sleep was a challenge. I would almost be asleep, when suddenly I would start thinking about Marco. The thoughts of him had me wide awake with a shot of excitement or anticipation or something. It was like a loud noise in the quiet. At one point I thought that I was going to go crazy. I finally got to sleep only to be awakened a few hours later by the annoying as shit alarm that lay beside my bed. I groggily got dressed and ready, then made my way to school.

When I walked through the doors the anticipation of the plan that I had worked up over my night hit me hard and fast. It wasn't diabolical, or even big. I was going to observe and analyze Marco Bodt and find out if he was flirting with me and if he was, if it was the friendly, playful flirt, or the dead-set, get that booty flirt. I set all of my stuff down in Spanish and glided my way to stand by the door. Not a moment after I chose to bend down and tie my shoe then I heard footsteps enter the classroom.

"Oh, Jean; you tease me so," Marco was grinning evilly. I'd never imagined that coming out of sweet little Marco's mouth. I shot up and turned to face him, my face a red and flustered mess. I replayed the event, remembering the promise to myself to analyze everything. I had bent down, ass up and facing the door. Someone had walked in. It was Marco. He implied that I was sexually teasing him. I'm going to die. I put together every bit of my mind that I could and regained my calm demeanor. At least on the outside. I did a sideways smirk and passed him, slapping his ass on my way to sit down. It was a bold, not well thought out move. It was now Marco's turn to blush. He squeaked and turned bright red in the face. He was frozen for a few seconds, but whipped around to look at me as I sat down. As Marco awkwardly moved to his seat to sit down beside me, I regretted my actions. Perhaps I went too far. I wasn't completely regretting them though, as I could still feel the plush, soft, well shaped, round piece of Marco in my hand.

Marco shuffled through his stuff after a moment, red blush still apparent on his face. The voice of reason that sometimes actually does come out was telling me that he deserved it. The kid had it coming. But the louder, more familiar voice in my head that told me that it'd be a great idea to climb a tree when I was 14 and jump from the top to see just how many bones it could break, told me that I screwed everything up. I ruined the friendship that I had built. It was gone. SHIT! And tonight we were supposed to get together to work on our Spanish project! I quickly tuned into the voice of reason more, thinking out how I was going to smoothly pass that one by and quick. I settled for the second or third idea that came to mind as the first one was to slap his plush little ass every time I had the chance.

"What? Don't like your game the other way? Com'on Marco, you can't play the same part all the time," I grinned over at him, elbow on the table, head on my fist.

"I'm getting you back for that!" Marco's cheeks cleared a bit, leaving only a light pink dusting.

"You're going to get back at someone for getting back at you? Harsh Marco, harsh," I turned back around as the teacher began the lesson. Marco and I went through the day and decided to met at his house for studying at four.

_Marco's_ POV

As soon as I got home I got to straightening everything up. My house wasn't a mess, but it certainly wasn't perfect. Even though we just moved here, two twin tornadoes of little 8 years of age brothers, Mathis and Ben, a 4 years of age sister, Angeline, a 5 years of age sister, Marie, an 18 years of age sister, Marci, an 11 years of age brother, Dakota, and myself can do quite a bit of damage to the garbage and litter control. I'm usually the one picking everything up anyway, so I guess I'm used to it. My mom insisted on baking her special butter and fudge chocolate piece cookies before she left for her second job. I told her not to and that if we were hungry I could make something and that she needed to sleep before going to work, but she insisted that I stop being the mother in the house and simply thanked her for once.

I do have to be glad that she did help though, because after I told her that a guy I met at school and I were doing a project she got to work while the cookies were baking to get my sibling out of the house. My mom was leaving at 3:45, my dad left at 3:00 for work, my twin brothers are going to spend the night at their friends house, Angeline and Marie are going to my grandmothers house for the night, Dakota is going to his friends house for the night, and Marci is going to our neighbors house for the night to watch her daughter until 5 the next morning. Mom, you're the best.

By the time I had pretty much cleaned the house to be as good as it was going to get, the cookies were set out, everyone was gone, mom left a note containing the 'yes's' and 'no's' of food, room accessibility, and radio and television volume levels. I respected my mom and her words, but this was a bit ridicules. I threw the paper away, as I already knew, no ones bedroom but your own (I'm the only one in the house to have a room to myself besides Marci) no basement, no alcohol, no marshmallows, those are Angeline's.

I sat down on the couch for a minute and as soon as I was about to get up I heard a knock on the door. I quietly raced to the door and opened it to find a shivering Jean. It was the coldest night yet, a freezing 20 degrees F, and Jean had walked from wherever he lived to my house in a lose T-shirt, black skinny jeans, and a jacket that was way too big for him, yet also lose and not fit for this weather, let alone unzipped as he had it. What an idiot.

"Come here, I'll get us some coffee and cookies. How do you like your coffee?" I asked as I walked him to the couch.

"Black, one sugar," Jean said rubbing his hands together in a feeble attempt to warm them.

When I came back Jean was hunched over and breathing on his hands. I sat the two coffee mugs and plate of cookies down and quickly set the fire. Usually Dakota liked to light the first fire of the year, but I wasn't quite as worried with that right now. I left for my room to get my biggest, warmest, favorite blanket. When I came back Jean looked the same, hunched over mess. I sat down next to him and draped the oversized blanket over his shoulders, he looked up at me then. There were purple bags under his eyes, his cheeks were red and puffy, and his eyes were bloodshot. He'd been cold and crying. The thought made me want to hide in a corner and cry also, only with him wrapped in my arms. But I didn't, instead I cupped his face with one hand, and his bicep with the other. He looked confused for a second by the touch, but relaxed after a moment and leaned his head into my hand, eventually burying one half of his face into my hand.

I hated him being like this, so random and sad, but I liked him being open like this at the same time. I also liked touching him the way that I was, with love and affection. I wasn't sure where this was going, but it wasn't Spanish.

* * *

I was freaking out on the inside, but on the outside I wore my usual smile, though I'm guessing it looked a considerable amount more panicked. I made very quiet, almost inaudible shushing noises in hopes of comforting him. I ran through all of the things that could have thrown him into this state, death? Accident? Sickness? Probably nothing that serious. If Jean had been here minutes earlier when he was obviously crying really hard, I would have broken down with him. He had calmed down a considerable amount and when he arrived the only evidence was the bright puffy red cheeks and soft hiccups that usually followed crying like that.

I unconsciously made my was closer to him and put one arm around hid back and began stroking his strong back lightly, the other that was still on his face placed the red mess on my shoulder, right under my neck. After I realized what I had done I was sure that I'd be pushed away, the famous 'Dude, no homo,' to come from his mouth. I was surprised, yet relieved, when instead he snuggled his nose deeper into my neck and let out a shaky breath. I inhaled the sweet scent that was Jean Kirschtein. He didn't smell like the crap most teenage boys smell like, really strong and sickly cologne, or seriously like crap. He smelled of weak vanilla, some collection of spices and it was something uniquely Jean. It was crisp and cold as a freezing winter's day, yet inviting to those who could get close enough. That wasn't any type of body spray or deodorant. That was Jean.

His fluffy sandy blonde locks that sat atop his head brushed at my jaw and I smiled as I pulled him closer. I knew that this moment wouldn't last for long and that I had to do something more to calm him. His hands gripping at the back of my shirt and his hiccups becoming more frequent alerted me to that. I slowly pulled away, yet kept my arms around him and close. He was still gripping the back of my shirt like his life depended on it.

"Jean, what happened? Please tell me," I had a strong voice throughout the entire sentence and I couldn't help but be slightly proud of myself for not cracking a note. He shifted for a second, thinking out his words I guess.

"I'm sorry, I my Dad and I got into a huge fight. Mom hasn't been home in a few days. Never is anymore... But he threw a few punches, blamed me for everything and kicked me out. I'm sorry I came, but I didn't know what to do. I'm going to call some people to see if they have a place for me for tonight. Let's just get the Spanish done," Jean looked like he was about to burst now.

"Jean, shut up. You're staying here. You're free to tell me anything more that you want, but I'm not going to force you. Screw Spanish. Eat some cookies and drink your coffee. I'll be back," I said as I left and grabbed the phone. All I had to do was to call my mom and pray that she understands.

* * *

The phone rang four times.

Mom: "Hi, Marco is this you? Is everything alright?"

The sound of other voices were loud on the other end, she was definitely busy.

Me: "Yeah it's me, every things alright here. I just need to know if my friend can spend the night."

Mom: "Weeell... Marco, honey, you know-"

Marco: "Mom please, he really needs this. You told me I should make new friends here and now my best one needs me."

Mom: "Well."

I held my breath.

Mom: "Fine. Don't stay up too late, though."

Me: "Thanks mom, love you, bye."

Mom: "You better not stay up past-"

* * *

_Jean's POV_

When Marco returned he wore his usual heartwarming smile, with an addition of a huge blanket he had just gone to get. He sat back down next to me and to my surprise he threw part of his blanket over me, put an arm around me and threw his feet up on the coffee table. He turned to me and gave me softer smile, grabbed the cookies and put them between us. I wasn't sure what to do, but borrowing down into Marco's arm seemed like the best thing. My face was promptly buried into Marco's arm as he tried to find a decent movie. He didn't ask about my dad. About the thrown punches. About the crying that threatened to continue. He didn't ask.

I looked at what Marco was doing with the TV through the remote with the one eye I had out. He was going through the movie channels and pausing on one every now and then, but none of them were good enough for him. Marco smelled sweet and fresh. He had a spice and fruit type scent, but Marco had said once before that he didn't wear scents. That was Marco. I hid my entire face under his arm and heard him laugh as well as felt the deep chuckle.

"If you start gnawing my arm off, I'm outta here," he laughed.

I laughed. Barely.

I looked up at him and he smiled. His smile. Marco's smile. I felt the tear threaten to drop. I felt it push and shove to get free. I fought it. I lost. As I looked at Marco, an angel, a freckled angel. I felt all of it crashing down on me, but in a good way. It was me knowing that I could let go, let it out around Marco. And I did.

As the tear rolled down my face, followed by another, and another, Marco's smile slowly faded. His arm's grip around me tightened as I began to curl into a ball on Marco's couch, my face in his lap. I felt the tears continue to come and a noise was bottled up inside of me, not a scream or a yell, but something. I opened my mouth as the bawling began.

The most horrendous. Horse. Pitiful sound came from my mouth and Marco's face was suddenly in mine. He was doubled over on the couch, his stomach on the back of my head, his face in the front. He enveloped me in warmth as he shushed me calmly, petting my hair and my side. He was close. Too close. No one had been this close to me unless it was to 'assert their dominance', which always ended up as 'ass-hurt their dominance'. This was close, usually too close. But I wanted him closer. I slowly rose from his lap and wiped my eyes. I looked over at him. his hand was still on my back.

I put my hand on his shoulder and moved closer. I moved closer very slowly and shakily. The shaking stopped as soon as I saw him slowly move forward with me. We tilted our heads slightly to each of our rights and closed our eyes. His soft, plush lips graced over mine before he pressed them together. His hands ran down my back in an instant. My hands clumsily found their way around his neck. We kissed for what seemed like an eternity, but wasn't long enough. We pulled back and looked at each other.

"Marco, I-"


	3. A New Turn

**Note: So sorry for the long wait! I'm seriously starting this and I have to go in an hour. I've been very busy and if you want my reasoning it's family illness, convention coming up, and training for things. I'm writing as much as I can as fast as I can while keeping it as good as possible and maintaining my promise of longer chapters!**

**Rereading this, these things suck ice, I'm gonna try WAY harder especially after this one. I'm probably going to dedicate two days a week, one extra for writers block, and hope that I can finish a good story in that time and be able to post in a week.**

**Please let me know if I can fix anything, a few things have come to my attention that I'm working on finding. Thank you all for all of your support. YOU ARE INCREDIBLE! Please enjoy~**

* * *

**_Jeans_ POV**

This was it. The moment. Everything around us disappeared as we only focused on each other. The only thing that mattered was each other. As the words fell from my lips I didn't care about what they were, what they meant, only Marco.

"Marco, I think I might lovelike you," And there it was.

Silence

My head was about to burst. What's the worst that could happen? Him saying no? NOPE. Him saying nothing.

"Jean, I think I might lovelike you to," And he smiled. My chest relaxed, my muscles relaxed, my head stopped spinning and I could breathe. He bent down a little and kissed my nose.

"You little shit," Was all I could say, he looked back looking genuinely offended.

"What!?" The alarm was apparent in his voice.

"I say that to you and you respond with silence? Are you trying to kill me?"

"You're adorable you know that?"

"No, we're not going to be that gay couple who use the most sickly sweet feminine complements. No."

"Oh, sorry did I insult your manhood? You must be very protective considering how small and frail it is," Marco was snickering and turning red.

"I'm done," I got up and went for the cookies, which he also grabbed a few of. Despite my claim of finished, we sat down and as soon as his arm went around my shoulders I was curled up onto his side clutching his shirt.

"So how does a Disney marathon sound?" Marco asked squeezing my shoulders.

"Like a dream," I hummed.

_**Marco's**_** POV**

I honestly felt like this entire night was a dream. Of course I had a crush on Jean that may have blown up when he let me in on his sexuality, but for us to be official -for my arm to be around him right now and his slender fingers to be pressed to me side.

Everyone comments on my smile, "Oh, you have such a lovely/sweet/understanding smile, Marco!" But in all honesty, this is my favorite smile I've ever had and it's all for Jean and Jean alone. I feel the dorky idiotic-ness that was slanted and plastered upon my face, I knew it was there, but when Jean looked up, smiled and chuckled, shaking his head and turning back to _'Won't Say I'm in Love' _ by Meg in Disney's Hercules, it was blasted up by about 10 levels.

After Hercules, Mulan, and the Lion King, now half way through Bambi I felt a pulling on my arm and when I looked down I saw Jean asleep with his mouth hanging slightly open and pulling on my shirt. I laughed as silently and stilly as I could manage and leaned my head back on the couch, closing my eyes before almost immediately falling asleep myself.

* * *

I woke up to the smell of baking, TV turned off, Chibble laying in the chair across the room, two extra blankets on top of the two we had last night, and Jean still pressed firmly to my side. I rubbed my eyes looking at the clock. I almost had a heart attack as I saw the time, 8:00, but soon remembered that we had chosen yesterday to work because today the school was shut down for emergency maintenance and meetings because today and tomorrow were the only days that the staff could all make it, and the earliest the entire student body could be notified of the cancelation.

I slowly picked my cell phone up off of the side table I had dumped it on last night and sent a multi-text. The responses were extremely fast.

**To: Petra, Armin, Reiner, Ymir, Bertholdt, Krista, Sasha, Connie, Levi, Erwin**

_"Sorry guys, something came up and I can't make it to the park today. If I can I'll join you later if no one minds an extra person. So sorry, I know we've had these plans since we knew we had the day off, but its super important. Please spread the word to anyone I forgot!"_

**From Armin at 8:00:**

_"It's fine Marco, don't worry about it. And anyone you bring is fine, we'll be there all day and let you know if we go somewhere else :)"_

**From Sasha at 8:00:**

_"but frecklessssssss this was suposed to be ur ofical welcome to trost highhhhhhhhh! but if its rlly that important we can always steal u another day + 1 ;D"_

**From Ymir at 8:01:**

_"Have a fun and 'hard' night last night? I heard from a little bald birdie that jean was comin over"_

**From Reiner at 8:02:**

_"its cool dont apologize so much bert and i are comin late anyway so let me no when/if you and whoever leave ill give ya a ride"_

**From Betholdt at 8:02:**

_"Don't be sorry Marco. Reiner and I are coming late, don't feel bad. Hope everything works out and you can make it."_

**From Connie at 8:02:**

_"duuuuude that sucks! we'll get 2gether another time if u dont make it but i hope u can!"_

**From Petra at 8:03:**

_"It's ok sweetie, don't be sorry, it happens. I wish u could make it. I'll tell Eld, Gunther and Auruo, who I'm bringing so bring anyone you want, I've got three XD!"_

**From Erwin at 8:03:**

_"Alright, hope you can make it, I'm looking forward to meeting you better at any point, I'm sure everything will work out for you, whatever's come up"_

**From Levi at 8:03:**

_"I don't care, as long as you don't bring a dick-wad like Hanji"_

**To Levi:**

_"Hanji isn't, well, that"_

**From Levi at 8:04:**

_"So you haven't met her?"_

**From Krista at 8:05:**

_"Aww, I really wanted to get to know you better, you seemed really sweet that day at lunch :) and it's nice of you to be friends with Jean, he doesn't have many, and I don't get to talk to him a lot. Wait, are you bringing Jean? I won't tell anyone, but Armin told me a minute ago he was going to invite Eren when he wakes up, if it's Jean I'll ask Armin not to and explain for my own reasons"_

**To Krista:**

_"Are you an angel or what? Yes it's Jean, and I don't know what it is, but I know there is something between them so if you don't mind it would help out so much, but only if you don't mind!"_

And after that episode my phone went on my lap, fell off, and hid from the text storm/headache that had just occurred. Next time I'm texting each one separately, or texting one and letting them do the task.

As my head felt a little less like exploding I felt a stir next to me. I looked down just in time to see Jean stretch like a cat, return to his original position and finally open his eyes. He blinked a few times, as if unsure as to where he was, but looked up to me and smiled groggily, rubbing his eyes for added effect.

"Good morning tall, brunette, and beautiful," He slurred not removing one of his hands from his eyes.

"Good morning sarcastic, anti-social, and handsome," I smiled down at his mock anger.

"I'm guessing that best friend turned into something more last night after our conversation," my mom said as she rounded the corner and entered the living room.

"Actually yes," I smiled at my mom and held my arm out to her. She smiled back, winked, and came to give me a hug.

_**Jean's POV**_

As Mrs. Bodt hugged her son and my new boyfriend, I slunk slowly into the couch so Marco wouldn't notice. I guess I expected to hide until she left, but as she pulled away from Marco she stepped to the side and looked at me where I had slunk from Marco's side to right above and on his hip. My eyes grew wide and I probably looked like a deer in head lights. She motioned for me to stand up and I was not going to deny the moments of still silence that followed. I eventually slowly moved to stand, glancing at Marco to see his face not worried, afraid, or laughing his ass of at me like I'd expected him to if he hadn't been one of the former. He simply looked curious as I all but cowered as his mom and she stood at his side expectantly waiting.

Mrs. Bodt stood at about 5'4 ft. and had her light brown hair pulled back into a messy bun with hairs loose everywhere. She was cute, in a mom sort of way. She looked very natural. She had a kind face, that could easily turn into a 'you best listen to me or you lose every privilege you have' face by the looks of it. She had a few freckles, not as many as Marco, though. She looked tired, and not the just-woke-up tired, the worked-24/7 tired. She had a few wrinkles, but it didn't damage her beauty. Marco definitely got a lot of the beauty from his mom. Her blue eyes scanned me as I stood slouching before her.

She was nothing like my mom. My mom was 5'7, had black hair that always had some sort of product in it. She was bone thin and looked kind of sickly. She had dark green eyes with no pop. You know the eyes that have depth and deep colors? The exact opposite. She was usually in another guys bed and my dad new that. He'd hit her and then me when she didn't come home for a few days like recently. I don't care though, or at least I don't now. Ever since I met Marco I haven't worried as much.

"I-it's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Bodt. I hope I haven't intruded," I heard myself say. Since when was I so damn polite?

"Mrs. Bodt? Intruded? From what I've heard you're rather blunt," So Marco's talked about me? "My name is Sarah Ruth Bodt and you are to call me Sarah or Mom. Got it? And you haven't intruded, you are Marco's friend and you are welcome here anytime Marco wants."

"Uh, thank you Mrs.- uhh... Sarah... Mom?" If there was a prize for awkward babble, I'd have three gold medals.

"Mom sounds nice, now, what about your name?" She brushed my awkward stammering aside and I realized that Marco was an angel raised by an angel.

"J-Jean Kirschtein," I was relaxing, but still was cautious not to screw up.

"Hmm... French?" She asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?" I was officially done with nervousness now, out the window.

"I studied name origins in college with my friend, now husband. It was just something we liked to do," She gave me a wink and looked back to the kitchen. "There's pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, juice and milk in the kitchen when you boys are ready for breakfast."

"Thanks mom," Marco smiled and stood up, giving her a proper hug. He towered over her, as I realized exactly how tall he was. He wasn't as tall as Betholdt, but then again, who was?

"So, how do you like my mom-" Marco was cut off by me lunging and hugging him. I was afraid he wouldn't return it after a bit, but his arms wrapped around me in a strong, tight, secure embrace and he kissed the top of my head. I snuggled into his chest and heard a loud rumble. I looked up and saw him blushing.

"Hungry?" I asked.

"She said bacon..." Marco smiled and put an arm around me, leading me to the kitchen.

"Make sure to leave enough for three or four more people. Your sister came home and went straight to bed after babysitting. Rough night with the kids. Your Father is in the shower, so no bathroom either. The 3 boys are going to the arcade with their friends and meeting up, and the girls are going shopping with Grandma. What are you two doing for the day?" Mrs. Bodt, or Sarah I should say began as we all sat down at the table.

"I was going to ask you that, Jean. A whole bunch of the people we sit with are going to the park at about noon and I was supposed to go. They said I can bring someone if you're up for it, or you can leave, or we can do something around here," Marco looked at me as he made both of us a plate, as I wasn't moving.

"Do whatever you'd like. I don't want to control your day off," I replied.

"I want to spend the day with you, but if you don't want to its fine."

"I want to also, so do whatever you'd like and I'll follow."

"Well if you're ok with it we can go to the park with everyone." he smiled.

"Everyone? Who is all going?" I wasn't going to be able to go if Jaeger was going. I wasn't going to let Marco see the definite fist fight that would follow.

"Ymir, Reiner, Sasha, Armin, Krista, Connie, Bertholdt, Petra, Erwin, Levi, Eld, Auruo, and Gunther. No E.J." Marco said, not wanting his mom to hear him specifically exclude Eren.

"Who's E.J.?" She immediately asked.

"No one mom," He responded.

"I don't care who you talk to, as long as I know who you're not here for when the phone rings," She smiled and sat down across from us.

"You're so nice mom," And with that he grabbed my hand and reached across for his moms.

"Lord, thank you for this dinner that we are sharing and my dear Marco's new relationship. Please protect our family and Jean as we are all fairly busy today. Amen," And with that we dropped hands and began eating. I'd never done that before. Ever. It felt nice, though and I hope to do it again with Marco and Mrs. Bodt, er, Sarah.

* * *

After the meal we decided to head to the park to meet everyone else. Marco was really good for me, considering he wasn't budging me to go home and work things out, and he's getting me to hang out with more than the two same people. This was hopefully going to be a great day. Marco let me borrow his clothes and lets just say they were a bit big. It was cool today, 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I ended up wearing my boxers and jeans from yesterday, his tank top that was too small, so it fit me perfectly, and his black sweatshirt that said, "My Chemical Romance" in slanted letters diagonally down the front. He wore black jeans, and a black long sleeve t-shirt.

"You ready? Reiner and Bertholdt should be here to pick us up soon," Marco called from his room to me in the bathroom. (I've yet to meet his Father and I'm not sure whether to be happy or disappointed)

"Yep," I said walking into his room with the large sweatshirt past my hips and covering my hands.

"You're too cute," He said walking over and hugging me. He rubbed his nose in my hair and laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I couldn't help but smile despite my fed up tone.

Yeah. Today would be good.

* * *

**Note:**** The next chapter should not take half as long. Thank you all for the wait. This is twice as long as usual, but it shouldn't have taken this long, sorry. Next one should be out in a week or less to say sorry. Thank you all for the support!**


	4. Here We Go

**Note:**** Let me know anything you guys would like me to change, 9 followers and 7 favorites are awesome and I am so happy for them and the support, but I'd like to know if I should drop this, edit the first crappy chapters, combine a few chapters to make them longer, or just drop it for now and possibly pick it up in the future. Don't be confused if after I post this chapter, I combine every two or so chapters from the first few, but not this one and the one before.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

_**Jean's**_** POV**

Reiner arrived with his beat up, black 1992 Ford Pickup after a few minutes of loitering around in Marco's room. Reiner and Bertholdt both had to get out to let us get into the back, which was a show. After about ten minutes of my cursing, hitting my legs and head on various truck parts, me hugging a seat when Reiner threatened to pull me out and just shove me in, and Marco gliding in with unheard of speed then laughing at my failed attempts even though he's much bigger than me.

"So, wanna tell us why you guys are late?" Reiner asked trying to start conversation.

"We're late?" I asked.

"Well, if we were going to go I wanted to be there by noon, but everyone besides the four of us headed over and about nine this morning," Marco smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Shit, so I kinda screwed up your plans every which way, didn't I?" I felt awful. I should've called someone else and canceled the project... But then Marco and I would still be 'Friends Who Secretly/Not-so-Secretly Have Feelings for Each Other'...

"Jean, you may have thrown one off, which isn't a big deal to start with, but I'm really glad you did" He took my hand in his as Reiner made barfing noises and Bertholdt softly hit him on the arm, though not as hard as he'd obviously had liked to considering Reiner was the one behind the wheel.

"Well I guess that answers my question, huh Bertholdt?" Reiner winked at him where he sat in the passenger seat.

A soft, "Oh my god, Reiner..." was all to be heard from said boy as he went back to look out the window. On the other hand, Marco and I were out for our names.

"No no no no no no no no no no. Do not go there you blonde gorilla," Was my first response.

"Jean, don't make him kick us out of the car, be nice. And Reiner, you know that isn't the case, I didn't have an alarm set and I wasn't sure if Jean would want to tag along," Marco said calmly, yet strictly with a somewhat flustered look on his face.

"Yeah, and what about you two anyway?" I looked Reiner right in the eye through the mirror.

"Pretty much the same thing as you guys," Reiner said.

"Oh, so you two are together?" As the words left my mouth I saw Marco look over as if he had failed in life by not covering my mouth before I could say anymore.

"You know what I meant asshole! I meant that Bertholdt stayed over, we fell asleep watching TV, so no alarm was set, and then we had to deal with my dog, who just happened to run away last week and decided to show up," Reiner shouted.

Bertholdt had his arm on the door, his head in that hand and pressed to the window. His face was obviously bright red and sweaty, as were his ears and the back of his neck.

"Someone's sensitive," I nudged Marco's shoulder, he looked at me with 'please-shut-up' eyes and then back at Reiner.

"Whatever," And with Reiner's words that conversation was gone.

"Wait, why wasn't Annie invited?" I asked realizing the seat in between the two giants was empty.

"She was, but her, Mikasa, and a few others decided to go to the AirBall court and do some extra practice before the season starts up. You gonna join Marco?" Reiner answered.

"What's AirBall exactly?" He looked to me. I have failed you, Marco Bodt. Failed.

For the rest of the drive Reiner, Bertholdt, and I went into extreme detail to explain what exactly AirBall was. We didn't skip out on last years high death/injury rate, or the time when Levi knocked a player from the Titan team so hard with a ball he hit a wall and lost his eye sight. We explained to him the special technic that the titan's have that so far, only Eren can mimic. Reiner and Bertholdt didn't talk much during that time and I don't know why. I may hate the guy, but damn he has some skill.

* * *

We soon arrived to the park, knowing it was the right one by a distant girl with a slushy in one hand, a stick in the other, and her brown hair up in a pony tail shouting what seemed to be words of encouragement to a boy with either bald or a shaved head who was currently trying to climb a scrawny tree.

The three of us headed up the hill to the duo who could only be Connie and Sasha.

"Hey," Reiner called out. Sasha's head zipped immediately around.

"Reiner! Bertholdt! Marco! Grumpy!" She called running the few steps to hug us all at once.

"Grumpy? Really?" I asked once released.

"Yeah, you're Grumpy, and should be called as such," Connie came up from behind Sasha, brushing his hands off on his pants.

"Jean isn't grumpy, he's Positivity Impaired," Marco said putting an arm over my shoulders. Everyone laughed.

"Well, come on, I'm sure everyone else is dying to get some of you, Marco," Sasha said and led everyone down the other side of the hill. It was a movie scene on the other side. Armin, Krista, and Petra were playing Frisbee out in the sun, while Ymir simply chased Krista and tried to tickle her and spin her in the air a few times. Eld, Gunther, Auruo, Levi, and Erwin were playing a strange kind of football that seemed to be two against one, Levi and Erwin against everyone else. IT seemed that someone invited Mike because he was running around trying to ref the game, but being yelled at for every call he made.

As we got further down the hill the voices got louder and more understandable.

Krista: Got it!-Ooof! Ymir, I almost had that *extreme giggles*

Ymir: Yeah, but I got you.

Armin: Where'd the Frisbee go?

Mike: "Out of bounds!"

Eld: "What are you talking about? That was not! Gunther was at least two steps in!"

Mike: "If you're going to ignore every call I make, why do you have a referee?"

Gunther : "Don't start pouting because you're wrong."

Mike: "Good bye."

And with that, Mike walked away, followed by Levi and Erwin to go sit under a large tree. The remaining boys went to play Frisbee.

"HEEEYY!" Sasha called as she stumbled her way down the steep hill.

Everyone slowly stopped what they were doing, or stood up in Levi, Mike, and Erwin's case, and walked over to meet us where we sort of awkwardly landed at the bottom of the hill. I holding Marco's arm and he was holding mine, Reiner and Bertholdt were doing something that resembled a 'bro hug'. You know, when you do something that resembles a thumb hug or a pact and then bump shoulders? It looked like that only clumsy with one super tall sweaty dude, and one super buff, fairly tall dude. Sasha and Connie were holding on to each other for dear life as we all got to the bottom.

"Hey guys," Petra said as she walked up to us. It was hard to believe that the small girl could beat up most of the people here, minus the exceptions like Levi, Erwin, and a few others.

"It's great that you guys could make it!" Krista beamed, winking at Marco for some unknown reason. Ymir came up from behind her and hugged her waist.

"Yeah. What do you guys want to do?" Armin asked nodding at Marco. I quickly caught on that Marco had discussed my arrival with Krista and Armin and talked about Eren not coming. I wasn't going to press for details, I was just going to be thankful.

"Why don't we play a huge game of Hide-'n-Seek tag?" Marco asked. I looked up at him to see his adorable smile displayed hugely across his freckled face.

"What?" Reiner asked.

"Hide-'n-Seek tag sounds fun! Can we guys?!" Krista looked back to Ymir and around to everyone else.

"Well," Ymir kissed Krista's forehead, "how can I say 'No' to that? Count me in, but we're together hiding and seeking."

"I'm in, but that's kind of cheating, Ymir," Armin said.

"I'm in to, but that is totally cheating!" Connie pointed accusingly at said freckled girl.

"Why don't we do teams? Let's see... Jean, Marco, Ymir, Connie, Reiner, Krista, Eld, Petra, Levi, Erwin, Auruo, Bertholdt, Sasha, Mike, Gunther, and me. That's 16 people and eight pairs," Armin calculated. "That is, if we all want to play?"

A chorus of agreements and a bit of trash talk followed.

"Alright, but who's with who?" Eld asked.

"Ymir?" Armin asked.

"I'm with my darling Krista."

"Marco?"

"I'm with my darling Jean," He mimicked Ymir's voice which earned him a playful punch in the arm.

"Keep that up and people might think you two are together," Erwin said with a smile which slowly faded as we sheepishly looked to each other. "Oh, sorry. But, congratulations..."

"Aww," Krista sang.

"Anyway, Reiner?" Armin continued.

"Bertholdt, you guys are going down! Bertholdt seems to disappear to you guys all the time!"

"Reiner!" Bertholdt scolded.

"What? I didn't mean it as a bad thing! I always know you're there!" And thus began a debate on Reiner and his nonexistent filter from his brain to his mouth.

"Ok. And Levi?"

"Erwin."

"Umm... Mike?"

"You, if that's alright,"

"Not picked last, that's a first. Alright... and Sasha?"

"Connie! Conners! Connby! The Conster!"

"We understand. Eld?"

"I pick Gunther."

"Petra?"

"The only one left, Auruo."

"Is that the only reason you picked me?" He walked to stand beside her and fake pouted.

"Actually, I was going to pick you in the first place, it's bound to be a heck of a game with you as my partner. I know class projects are," she smiled up at him causing him to blush.

"Enough talking! If you or your partner are tagged, you both are the seekers! Wait... who's it?" Erwin questioned.

"You!" Sasha shouted.

"Alright, Levi and I are it. Ready?" He agreed.

"Well, now that I know you give in so easily I'll be getting a lot more out of you," Levi snapped which earned an eye roll from Erwin accompanied by a large grin.

The game began with these partners:

Reiner and Berthold vs.

Marco and me vs.

Krista and Ymir vs.

Erwin and Levi vs.

Petra and Auruo vs.

Mike and Armin vs.

Eld and Gunther vs.

Sasha and Connie

Marco and I hid in some bushes as Erwin and Levi counted to 60. I must admit, we looked kind of ridiculous. We had two College freshmen with a foot in height difference covering their eyes with both hands as they counted loudly and slowly, pairs of high schoolers running, running on the tips of their toes when they got near the two counting, looking around as if their life depended on it. We also had pairs of high schoolers trying to cram each other into small space, then fit themselves. From where we sat scrunched in the over grown bushes I could see Reiner and Bertholdt make their attempt with 30 seconds left.

Reiner pointed to something and Bertholdt shook his head. Bertholdt whispered into Reiner's ear and Reiner nodded his head slowly following Bertholdt to a nearby tree. They looked at each other for a second, pointed at one another, and Bertholdt reached down, grabbed Reiner by the hips and picked him up far enough for him to grab a branch and climb up. Next Reiner reached down, grabbed Bertholdt's hand, hoisted him up so that he was almost on, then grabbed his waist and moved him so that he was sitting on the branch, which sent his shirt riding up. You now had a very large Reiner, and a very tall and sweaty Bertholdt trying to get a few strong limbs higher in a tree. It was ungraceful, shameful, and hilarious.

Marco and I tried to cover our mouths and silently laugh with a few unattractive noises spewing from our noses as we watched the episode from the bushes. Erwin and Levi were now on 50 and in the 20 seconds to get there, the two tall and built boys had made it to a considerably covered branch about midway up the tree. I looked over and saw Connie and Sasha hiding behind an army of trash cans that had been pushed up against a wall. Right where they belong. Marco hit my arm for that, but didn't even try to hide the smile that took over his face.

On the 60 mark Levi looked like he was ready to storm somewhere, but instead looked around for a second, then up at Erwin.

"Stop touching that! That's not my knee!" was heard in a hushed yell from what could only be Petra.

"Oops," in a not so quiet whisper was definitely Auruo. It was too late though, because Levi and Erwin had already taken off towards the noise.

"You'll never take us!" And Petra rounded a corner right before Erwin and Levi did with Auruo in tow. As they past a wall, Auruo accidentally knocked some trash cans over.

"Shit! US EITHER!" Was Connies battle cry and he and Sasha lunged out from the pile of silver metal hand in hand.

Levi ran across the small expanse to a tree and watched as Petra and Auruo ran towards it, not seeing Levi. Erwin kept hot on Connie and Sasha's trail. Connie promised Sasha that he'll pay for her food today, whatever she wanted, if she just kept running. From where Marco and I sat we had a clear view to Reiner and Bertholdt and it was a sight.

Both boys were scrunched together, facing each other on the same limb, legs tangled and hold each others mouths closed as they switched from looking to where Levi stand underneath them to where Petra and Auruo ran unknowingly towards him, to where Connie and Sasha were getting everyone in the park's attention. Luckily there were only a few families and some old couples scattered here and there.

Petra ran right into Levi as he stepped out from behind the tree. They both hit the ground, Petra rolling a bit and Auruo barely stopping before joining them.

"Come on! He already touched my butt!" Petra said standing up. Connie and Sasha had collapsed on the ground and Erwin was poking Connie in the side with his foot.

I slowly and slyly reached over and grabbed the soft, firm, plush roundness that was Marco's fine ass. He made a squeaking noise and turned bright red looking over to me. I threw PDA in the trash, because we were in the bushes, no matter how bad that sounds. I kissed on the cheek, which he returned on the lips. We kissed a few times before he decided to get me back for my smooth ass-grab by squeezing my sides. All of the Air left my lungs and I pulled away from a kiss. He came back mercilessly attacking my sides as I laughed louder and louder until most heads were turned our way.

"Found Marco!" Petra shouted as she smiled at us. She put emphasis on the 'Marco' and looked pointedly our way.

"Polo!" Marco called back sticking his head above the bushes.

"Oh my god, seriously!?" Levi looked as if he'd lost all hope in humanity.

We played a few more rounds of the game, which included Reiner and Bertholdt falling out of the tree, Bertholdt on top of him, and Connie and Sasha not even asking if they were ok and skipping straight to;

_"Reiner and Bertholdt sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"_

Followed by Ymir's

_"Reiner and Bertholdt sitting in a tree, F-U-C-K-I-N-G"_

And Krista scolding her girlfriend for her crudeness, especially in a public park.

* * *

Today was great, and it wasn't even over yet.


	5. Getting Started

**I feel like I'm going to make Sasha and Connie together, Reiner and Bertholdt together, Erwin and Levi together, and possibly Petra and Auruo. Let me know what you think, and if you would like more/ different ships.**

**(I might actually make Armin and Mike as the most minor couple, even though it is definitely nothing like cannon. I might also do Armin and Annie if I don't do the Mike and Armin. PLEASE tell me at least what you think about that so I know if I need to add that into my pre-build write).**

**I feel as though this chapter and the last were slow, or at least ant-climatic, so I'll definitely be working on that for the next one.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

_**Marco's POV:**_

Watching Jean really open up and have fun instead of seeing him practically use an invisibility spell when around these same people was heartwarming. I really wanted to tell myself it was my doing, but felt like that was being selfish. I wasn't going to deny that I had nothing to do with it, I brought him here, listened to him when he needed someone, and reassured him, but it was like a whole new person. After the intense game of hide 'n seek, everyone went to Erwin's van that he inherited from his grandfather to get some water and sodas. Sasha took this chance to pull me aside.

"Hey, Marco?" She asked taking my arm and slowing me down from everyone else. Jean didn't notice because him, Connie, and Eld were racing up the steepest hill I'd ever seen (which was just asking for a disaster).

"Yeah?" I asked as I stopped walking completely and turned toward her.

"I don't know what you did, but thank you. I haven't seen Jean this happy and loose since seriously Elementary school. He used to only talk to me, Connie, and then you. Now look at him: he has an angel boyfriend, he's talking to everyone, and he's actually replaced that perpetual scowl of his with a lot of smiles today," She was talking sincerely and smiling.

"I wasn't just me. He's told me a lot about you guys, you and Connie I mean. He really loves you guys... Don't tell him I said that..." I looked up to where Jean and Connie were now attempting to dump freezing cold water on each other- and there's Levi with a bag of ice and a bloodthirsty look.

"Aww!" And with that, Sasha wrapped an arm around my neck and we both clumsily made our way up the death trap of a hill.

"So, Marco, you never gave us an answer to AirBall earlier," Reiner stated as we made it to the top.

"It sounds dangerous, but I'd love to join this season if it's ok," I smiled and took a bottle of water Armin offered me.

"It is dangerous, and we'd love you to join us. We actually need all the players we can get after the incident when wall Maria took a beating. We lost a lot of players that day due to death, injury, and just plain fear," Erwin looked at me serious now. "It was so bad that the school almost canceled the program, if it weren't for Eren and Levi, then the head of the Trost School Board Police, Nile Dawk, would have confiscated our equipment and then we wouldn't even be able to play by ourselves. Hell, he would have had Eren kicked out of the entire district for the game he played."

"Yeah, and if you're gonna play you should know the ranks." Connie pointed out. "Erwin is the Commander of our team, the Survey Corps, or the Scouting Legion if you prefer. Levi is his right hand, the Corporal, he's also a team lead, Captain of the Special Operation's squad, or, the guys who get inside, as we say. Even though the two of them are in college, they're allowed on our team, it's open to everyone who wants to join. Like how they can have their lunch in the high school, even though they don't go there anymore. The other Captains are Mike, and Hanji. And then others have their own smaller teams, like Jean."

"Enough of that, lets go get fooooooooood!" Sasha whined.

"Sounds like a plan. It's three, so if we leave now we can still make it to Hero's Café in time for 1 dollar shakes!" Petra said as she made her way toward Eld's shiny minivan.

"Everyone know the way?" Erwin asked as he, Levi, Armin, and Mike got into his far less shiny and much older van.

"How many times have we been there?" Connie asked making his way to his own vehicle, making sure to roll his eyes in a clearly visible way.

I saw Jean look down a little bit, it looked very sad and I wanted to hug him and smother him in love right there, but I didn't. I couldn't let the other's see that he was disappointed he wasn't invited those times, and the fact that this was a new relationship, despite how strongly I felt for him.

_**Jean's**_** POV:**

Marco and I went through a much graceful-er, yet still shameful five minutes to shove ourselves into the back seat of Reiner's truck. We left the park and drove to The Hero's Café in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, music was playing and I was happy just sitting and holding Marco's hand.

We pulled into the small parking lot and 5 in a row we all pulled into a parking space. Erwin's huge, grey supply van or something, Eld's blue minivan, Reiner's truck, Connie's Dodge Ram (which already had a dent in the back from a drunk driver behind him), and Krista's silver Honda accord. I honestly don't see why Erwin and Levi were driving the van when Levi had a freaking Mustang Charger, though. I'm far too into cars. Marco better not ever mention them, because he'll be stuck for an hour humoring me.

We all met up in the middle of our car line and only then proceeded to cross the parking lot and enter the Café. Erwin goes in first, Levi right behind him. As we walked in, I noticed the man at the counter was somewhat familiar. As Erwin approached the counter his eyes grew wide and the man (_Was it Dek? Dez? That's right, Daz!)_ looked terrified.

"If you're here to get me back into the game of Kill or be Killed, I'm not doing it! Beat me up for all I care, it's a better fate than that game!" Daz shouted, alarming the few customers in the shop.

"We're not here for that," Erwin said with a strong voice.

"Then what!?" Daz asked/shouted.

"Coffee..." Erwin said bluntly and less strong.

"Oh... Sorry..." Was all the Daz could say.

There was a commotion behind the door that obviously led to the kitchen and Mr. Hannes stepped out. It had been so long since I had been here, I forgot that my teacher owned the place.

"Hello, Mr. Hannes," Erwin smiled.

"Hey, Commander! Been a while since I last saw you. Must have been about a week after the trial with Dawk that I saw you. You're in college now right? And I may call you Commander, even though you're like half my age, but call me Hannes, the only reason there's a Mister there is because of the principle," He smiled. "Anyway, what can I get you all?"

You could tell a lot about someone by what they order at Hannes' Café. Krista got a caramel and vanilla coffee with a chocolate supreme doughnut, Ymir got a plain coffee with a sandwich, Sasha, well Sasha got a lot. Connie almost got as much as Sasha, then remembered he was paying for all of this, and made Sasha split with him, and my freckled cutie got hot chocolate and some sort of soup. We all got different variations of food and say down at a huge round booth in the corner.

"So, Jean, I meant to ask you where you got that huge-ass sweatshirt," Levi looked directly at Marco when he said it, he knew it was his. That little bastard.

"His closet," I said, pointing to Marco. I braced myself for whatever reaction was to come and sure enough, it did.

"Awwwww!" Sasha and Krista sang out while Ymir made barfing gestures.

"That's adorable," Armin agreed.

"Shit, now I have diabetes, thanks guys," Reiner said rolling his eyes. My cheeks were red by now, but were nothing compared to Marco's, who was presently hiding behind his hot chocolate.

"You're one to talk, you where Bertholdt's shirts all the time, I can tell because they're baggy even on you," I said and now it was his turn to be taken aback and blush.

We talked back and forth like that for a while, when we were finished with our food we all ordered/refilled on coffee. I took Marco's hand into my own and leaned on him. On the other side of the huge circular booth was Ymir and Krista. Krista hand set her sugary coffee down on the table and had pressed herself up against Ymir's side, her arm wrapped snuggly around Krista's shoulders. Connie and Sasha were next to us, arms around each other's waists and laughing at something Levi had said to Reiner.

"What'ya guys say we get out of here and head down to the AirBall court for a bit and get some practice in ourselves?" Connie asked.

"That's probably a good idea, it'll also give Marco a chance to learn the ropes without there being too many people," Erwin agreed. We all finished our coffee and paid for our parts, I paid for Marco's after much arguing. Our line of vehicles stayed pretty much in a row, or at least in sight of each other as we made our way to the back of the huge, over 100 years old buildings that formed to create our town's only high school. Reiner parked in line, once more. The four of us got out and stretched, I took Marco's hand for what seemed like the zillionth time today and smiled up at him. He didn't seem to mind my constant hand holding and kissed my forehead somewhat shyly.

Krista hopped out of the passenger seat of her car, now wearing Ymir's large, ancient, grey pullover that she's had since before anyone can remember. Apparently Marco and I started a trend, because Sasha came out of Connie's truck wearing his favorite dark green army jacket. We walked up to the back gate entrance to the AirBall court. When our school hosts games, they usually open the front gate and parents and students would stand there watching on monitors how the game was going with the many camera's that were spread about the old walls. Since the accident with the Titans on the last game of the year last season, Wall Maria was pretty much closed down until they decided to fix the damage. So we walked along the perimeter of Wall Maria until we came to the gate that led to Wall Rose. The gate was already unlocked, so Mikasa, Annie, and Eren were still there.

As soon as we walked through the gate and shut it, Eren came crashing down out of nowhere, a ball landing on the ground next to him and Mikasa dangling about 2 stories above us.

"You'll get killed out there if you play like that," She called.

"Was that necessary?" Eren called holding the back of his head as he got up. Levi walked over and kicked him in the stomach.

"She's right," Was all that he said as he walked back over to our group.

"You guys decided to show up? And... Wait a second... What the hell is Horseface doing here?" He questioned.

"Marco brought him. Is there a problem?" Erwin asked, but it wasn't really a question. "Good, then where's the gear?"

"It's in storage A by the gate to Sina. Be careful, though; a teacher caught Annie grabbing some gear and almost had her head," Eren said, looking at me with a death glare as we passed.

I hated Eren. End of that story. That didn't mean he was completely bad, though. He hated me, I hated him, we just made each other angry. At lunch Eren did everything to ignore me and block me out, and I did the same. He was a pretty alright person to everyone else. He wasn't a bad person. He just holds a grudge against me for an accident that happened so long ago, and that is awful and stupid, but he doesn't do it to anyone else, so it's just one of those things. I still hate him for almost completely out casting me, sure I deserved it. At first. When it hit the two year mark, it was old. We should've gotten over it, but when we tried to resolve it, I don't know what happened but it ended in another fist fight, that I lost. In such, I lost everyone again, only after another year did I get Sasha and Connie back, but for one more year, they were barely there. It sucked. And honestly, I was kind of nervous about Marco and Eren becoming friends, I knew nothing would happen, but still.

I almost forgot that Marco didn't know the story and as we walked the long path to storage A I texted him the whole thing. He took a second to read it, but eventually he put his phone back in his pocket. His face was emotionless as he walked closer to me and put his arm firmly around me. He fell silent from the conversation he was in only minutes ago and simply took to keeping his arm wrapped around my shoulders so that I was pressed right up against him and with his other hand he reached over and rubbed soft circles into my arm that was closest to him.

No one noticed this huge display of affection besides Petra who had turned around to look at something and had caught on quickly, turning Levi back around when he went to look and see what she was looking at. It was kind of embarrassing for her, because the best she could do was point to a wall and say "Look, a bird!"... It was a wall...

When we finally made it to Storage A Erwin grabbed a huge chest like container, brought it out in front of everyone, and opened it up with a key he had in his pocket. Everyone grabbed a belt set and tucked their shirts in. I quickly put the belts on, not really paying attention because I'd memorized the sequence of buckles and loops. I had taken off Marco's hoodie in fear of getting it dirty or hurt. Krista had done the same with Ymir's hoodie and Sasha tried to with Connie's jacket, but he insisted that it was made of steel and if it got hurt, so what? It meant memories. Marco tried to tell me that I could wear the hoodie, but I lied and told him I was hot, which he responded with 'Yeah, I like this view better anyway' with an obvious look down my body.

I was all set up and was about to go grab my assigned 3D Maneuver Gear, when I heard an agitated noise and turned to see Marco tangled in the leather belt and either trying to step out of them or connect some very odd straps. I smiled and made my way over to him.

"Here," I said as I untangled and undid all of the straps. He watched as I smoothly connected each one with ease, and made a noise of surprise when I turned him around to adjust the ones that where right under his butt. I took the leather waist wrap and put it over his hips. I then went and grabbed my gear and an unassigned set and brought it out I assembled mine and hooked it up to my belts quickly, as he just watched in amazement. It felt good to know that he was amazed by something that I did, even if it was just my gear and he'd be as good at it as me if he did join the team. I felt like showing off for now, and added a little flare to what I did, making it look much better than it was.

"This is your gear, it's what you're gonna use to get you off the ground. I'll show you when the first person takes off, which looks like it's going to be Erwin and Levi, but if you really join the team, this will be yours and yours alone. You'll have to do maintenance and if anything looks wrong, get to your team leader, and if you're a team leader, you'll need to check with one of the Captains for all repairs. But after today, if you really want to join, we'll make this baby officially yours," I said kneeling down to attach his to his belts. "Oh, and never go out with Maneuver Gear, even for a quick glide, without the thing I put on your waist. It keeps it from destroying your legs. Alright, Levi's about to go."

We both looked to where Levi was somewhat crouching away from the rest of us. He took out the pairing sticks, which connected to the gear and ran all of two steps before he launched into the air. Erwin followed right behind him, taking a bigger run due to his weight to build inertia, and off he went. We watched as everyone left one by one, going in bursts of who was talking to who. Levi and Erwin, then Petra, Armin, Auruo, and Mike, then Eld, Gunther, Connie, and Sasha, and everyone else. We were the only two left.

"Alright, before you blast off and hit a wall, try and hook onto that wall and stop from face-planting into it with your feet. I'll go first," I wasn't a very teacher, and hoped that I wasn't going to get my boyfriend injured by just learning how to use the gear. Usually you had to go to a class before you could join, but screw it. I took out my pairing sticks and took off, stopping perfectly on the wall. I was about to turn around and call to Marco when said boy hit the wall next to me. Did I say I was perfect? Because Marco out did me by a long shot. He smoothly landed on the wall, not a thing but his feet touching.

"Holy shit! Marco, that was incredible! I feel stupid for saying that about just latching onto a wall, but that was flawless! You'd give Captain Levi a run for his money, at least on the move-" I was super excited about how natural this seemed to be for him, but shut up when I noticed that he hadn't moved since he hit the wall. He wasn't dead, and didn't seem hurt, he stayed with his arms at his side, his feet arched on the wall, knees bent, and his head down. "Marco?"

I put my sticks away and reached out for his shoulder. He slowly looked up and there were tears in his eyes from what I could tell and how little he was looking at me.

"Marco! What happened?" I asked, grabbing both of his shoulders and making him look at me a little awkwardly, as we were still on the wall.

"I-I... That... Sorry..." He stammered in a very quiet voice.

"For what? What happened!?" I was really worried. Sure, I had screamed my head off the first time I had used the gear, but that's because I'm me. This was different. This was Marco.

"I... I was scared." He muttered.

"Are you kidding me? Shall we do a reenactment of my first time? Nah, I don't want to burst your ear drums or hit that many walls again," I said and hugged him as best as I could as we dangled from the wall. I wiped his tears away with my arm and kissed his cheek. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," He was smiling again, good.

"Alright, why don't we see if you have talent with more than just climbing a wall? Are you ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," He said and wiped his nose on his black sleeve. We worked on running on a wall and landing back where we started, then on switching walls and then on really using it. In the end the result was as expected: My boyfriend was perfect.

Marco and I scaled the walls to reach the middle of the Rose court, where we had decided to meet. Everyone was surprisingly still there. Marco and I came up and as I landed with a loud thump and ungraceful loss of balance, Marco landed silently, not a step out of place. Levi gave him a nod of approval.

"Alright teams! Mikasa and I are the Commanders by majority vote. Teams have been picked!" Erwin called

"Team Erwin:

Levi

Jean

Krista

Marco

Ymir

Sasha

Connie

Mike

Team Mikasa:

Eren

Armin

Annie

Reiner

Auruo

Eld

Petra

Gunther

Bertholdt"

Erwin listed and then walked to the other side of the group. "My men, behind me!"

"My men, behind me!" Mikasa returned. The teams split, Connie complaining about the 'unfair advantage of their extra team member'. Sasha reminded him of Erwin, Mike, _and_ Levi on their team, which got him to shut up.

"We have five minutes to station the teams, then a siren will announce the games start, the siren man, Hannah, has made it VERY clear that she is not to be cast into the game, and she is only here because we are her friends and we asked for her help, and she didn't want some dimwit screwing up the system," Levi announced. "The winner will choose from the volunteered houses to spend the rest of the day at of Reiner's, Eren/Armin/Mikasa's, or Eld's."

"Or Levi's/mine," Erwin added.

Levi shot a green smoke into the air and a siren sounded in response, alerting everyone to the five minute Station and Strategy time. I grabbed Marco's hand and shot into the air, as he looked a little lost.

* * *

This was going to be good.


	6. The Unexpected

**I really hope I didn't over complicate things and made everything easy to read and understand. I've developed the game rules and instructions by myself, so I hope that you understand what's going on. We've officially gotten into the AU 'cannon' (which are the events that take place that are meant to represent things that happened in the anime/manga) in the last few chapters. **

**Ok, and just a fair warning, quite a bit more cussing/cursing/swearing in this chapter. **

**Ship update: ErwinxLevi ConniexSasha YmirxKrista BertholdtxReiner are going to happen (Possibly mild ErenxLevi for a bit). MikasaxArmin ArminxAnnie PetraxAuruo might happen. ArminxMike isn't going to, but HanjixMike might. This seems like a lot, but most will be very minor, so don't worry about overpowering and in your face or a ship you hate or don't support. **

**Let me know what you think **

**Enjoy~**

* * *

_**Marco's POV:**_

Jean let go of my hand once we got going and I followed closely to him and Sasha, who was next to me. I wasn't sure what was going on, as most of my instructions were verbal and I barely new what we were supposed to be doing for the next five minutes. Jean, Sasha, and I stayed a bit behind everyone, even though I told Jean that I had this down, he didn't want there to be an accident. We saw that the people ahead of us were stopping and all three of us came to a halt on an old balcony hanging out from one of the abandoned buildings. I took a quick look inside and realized by the two huge German Shepherds that this was one of the buildings that Hanji had claimed. The two were named Sawney and Bean, and Hanji was running tests on them, though most of the people in the school didn't like it. They were afraid of the dogs from what I hear.

I heard from a girl named Mina that Hanji often almost got bitten by them. The school -for some reason- had decided to allow Hanji to use a few buildings in Wall Rose for her science experiments and projects, because Erwin, Levi, Mike, and her college refused. I turned my focus back to what was happening around me, instead of my random, pointless thoughts.

"Alright everybody listen up! We have three minutes left before the game actually begins! We're on the defense!" Erwin shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "Which means, Marco, that we're just not the one's leaving position first. They come to us, but they have the balls to throw at people first. Levi, take Jean, Marco, Sasha and Connie up to the rooftops. I trust you to plan from there on. The rest of you will follow me and stay on the ground. Find your teammates. If this was a game, I'd make sure everyone knew where everyone was, but that's not always going to be an option. You need to find your team when you're separated or in case of emergency. GO!"

"Come on, brats," Levi huffed as he hooked up to the top of a tall building, his small frame soaring at impressive speeds. We all followed closely behind, I kept an eye on Jean, wondering how this was going to play out. "Look for your team bellow. I've already found all four of them. Remember, Krista, Ymir, Mike, and Erwin,"

I saw Connie keeping count on his fingers, he was already on two, and Sasha was apparently on three by her hushed celebration. I looked over at Jean and he was either done or didn't care, my guess was done. I looked around and couldn't find anyone. I thought that I saw Krista, but it was a broom with a rag on top. Sorry Krista...

"Over on the building to the left, the bottom right window is Ymir and Krista, the ally way on the far right behind the dumpster is Mike, and Erwin is crouched up on the tree to the farthest left and on the top strongest branch, the lead position," Jean mused as he stared up at the cloudless sky that was barely getting an early orange glow. "Hmm, sun's gonna set early tonight."

"How did you...?" I asked as I looked in each place to find exactly who he said was there.

"Nice, Horseface," Levi said from across the rooftop. "Now, I want you to look after your boyfriend, no one's goning easy on him just because he got some crappy instructions and this is his first game. Sasha, I want you to go to the old clock tower squeeze your ass beside the bell, it won't move because it runs on electricity, but it might fall with how old and cheap it was to start off with, so be careful. Connie, you go and get your scrawny, bald ass into the upper left middle window of Storage Room F. Jean, you and the freckled monstrosity get to the balcony on the building to the right."

**_Jean's_ POV**

Everyone got into position and I looked through a hole in the balcony and saw Krista pointing to where Levi was perched on a gargoyle type thing. Like Erwin, the lead position. I leaned over to where Marco was poking a few ants with a stick he must've found.

"You're one sexy freckled monstrosity," I whispered and backed away feeling proud of the blush I had caused to spread across his cheeks. I knew that Levi would've kicked me in the gut for distracting him when we were about to start this dangerous game, but I don't think Mikasa would snap my boyfriend's neck for hitting Eren a little too hard. I don't think...

The sirens sounded once more, alerting everyone to the games actual start. I kissed Marco's cheek once more before pulling out my pairing sticks and sitting up into a low crouching position that I can easily jump from. Marco mimicked my stance.

"Listen, if we ever don't get offensive of defensive instructions, it means that your captain is going to make the first move, in this case I think it's Erwin, but it may be Levi. I'll stick my head out when we hear the first noise, you stay covered, if I leave, don't follow me unless I tell you to, alright? I don't mean to baby you, but Armin broke three of my ribs in his daring 'helping the team offensively for basically the first time'. He hasn't done it again since, but the point is, accidents happen. Everybody here knows from last season," I whispered, and when he opened his mouth to say something I covered it as I heard Eren shout something and Mikasa using a strict voice, probably telling him to shut up.

After a few moments of silence a distant creak of Maneuver Gear could be heard. I gripped my weapons tightly and nodded over to Marco to be sure he was ready. He nodded back and I prepared for what was to come.

"Ah!" I could tell it was Armin even without looking. I poked my head up and found that Erwin had stricken as soon as the blonde had rounded the corner. Armin's gear was knocked from it's grip on a nearby wall and Levi was spiraling down towards the boy. Armin wasn't completely hopeless in the game, he just wasn't the best physical player. He saw Levi coming down and moved quickly into a position so that if Levi were to continue his attack, he'd hit not only his teammate, but his Captain.

"Erwin," Levi breathed, but it was too late for Erwin to move and in the second before he hit him instead of Armin, time slowed as he shot his gear at the opposite wall. He got away with only lightly knocking Erwin a bit on the back with his elbow.

"Jean?" Marco asked in a hushed, yet anxious voice.

"Hold on..." I whispered as I waited for my team's next move.

Something caught the corner of my eye and I barely had time to duck as Annie sent a ball flying towards my face. "Shit!"

"Come on!" I grabbed Marco's arm and practically shoved him off the side of the tan concrete balcony. We both shot off before falling too much and we found ourselves in what was basically a chase scene as Annie was obviously going to try and hit me out with her sticks. I had a good chance, no matter how skilled Annie was because we were pretty far away from the out of bounds line. Now I see why Erwin came straight here. I turned my head a bit and saw Ymir on the ground whacking Eren with an amazing force on the shoulder and Mikasa coming at her from behind.

"Ymir! Left!" I shouted, and with that she jumped to the right last minute, while Mikasa swerved to the left. She knew that when I shouted directions at her she was to go the opposite way. Ymir left the two afterwards and went to catch Krista as she fell. By the look on Reiner's face as he looked back at where the girl was falling, he hadn't hit her, but she had been paying attention to something else (probably hearing Ymir's name) and had run into his back, dislodging her from her course. I turned back ahead and planned my next move.

I pushed Marco down.

I couldn't see his face as he spiraled downwards and towards the ground, but as he shot off in another direction I knew I'd done the right thing. My assumption was right, as Annie ignored my pushing my boyfriend down towards the earth where it lay about 50 ft. bellow and continued following me. She started getting progressively closer and I turned around fast. As I started getting to where most of the other people were playing, I had just spotted Marco's horrified face when the world went black.

I began seeing thing again, but it was blurry. There was blood. _Annie hit me in the head_. There was the ground. The ground. Why was it getting bigger? It took me all of two seconds to realize I was falling and about to splat on the ground. I quickly turned around to see Annie falling after me, about to hit me again. '_Damn, she's out for fucking blood. If I don't move I'll die. I'll die. Dead. Have to move. Head fucking hurts. Marco. Marco. Marco? That's Marco's voice, real voice, not one in my head. He's shouting my name, but that's all I hear. What if he's in trouble? It's my fucking job to protect him from assholes like Lionhardt. Move damn you.'_

With a strength and consciousness that wasn't my own, I hooked my gear on a random object/building and clumsily flung myself away. I barely turned around and saw Annie moving in the opposite direction. Sasha. She was after Sasha next. I looked around quickly and with my burning and sore eyes I found Connie. I tried to hollow for him, but nothing came out. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and my back hit the wall that I had latched onto. I looked up to Annie and Sasha, Annie unnoticed so far and then back at Connie who had just come back from throwing someone out of bounds.

"Connnnnehhh!" I shouted loudly in a horse voice. He quickly looked to where I dangled limply on the building he was about to come to me when I shook my head as best I could without screaming. I pointed lazily to where Sasha was barely letting Berthold stand on the building they were on top of and desperately trying to push the quiet boy off. Connie looked confused for a second, but as soon as he saw Annie about to reach the top of the building he was off. His thin body hit her rather small one with a loud _**'THUD'**_and they both hit a wall, a railing, another railing, then the ground. Sasha heard the noise and Connie's "OW!" when he hit the second railing and with a final burst of strength, she pushed the tall boy off the other side of the building where he disappeared and ran over to the side she had heard the shout from.

I rolled my head back and squinted at the far to bright sky. I figured no one would go after me, no matter how exposed, with my bloody and nose and bleeding ear as I just kind of hung there. I saw Marco trying to get to me, but Reiner hadn't seen what had happened and thought he was just trying to run away. Marco looked like he was going to cry, so I gave him a weak smile and I think that I gave him a thumbs up, but my hand may have ignored the command. I was just going to hang there until the game was over, or perhaps a kind soul, perhaps Petra (who was currently doing pretty well against Levi),would simply pick him up and out him out of bounds. Hell, maybe even Mike, his own team member would do the favor. Since I wasn't dead or unconscious, I was still in the game.

All of this -and my faith in humanity- disappeared from my mind, hopes, and dreams as stupid Eren Jaeger came up and punched me in the gut.

"Come on Horseface, it's just a scratch," He assured as my entire body tensed up and I grabbed my stomach, curling into a ball. Eren was hooked onto the wall next to me, standing on it as I hung in my little ball form.

I heard a shout, one of pure determination, anger and frustration. Next thing I know someone has me in their arms, petting my hair. They moved me into their lap, so my gear wasn't holding me up, their legs were. I slowly looked up just in time to see the fucking angel, Marco Bodt take on the most scary, just crawled outta hell face and direct it towards Eren Jaeger. The way the dick's face morphed into one of mockery into one of terrified horror was priceless. I took as tight a grasp as I could manage and held onto Marco's long sleeve and buried my head in his chest.

"What kind of Dumbass do you have to be to tell someone who's bleeding from multiple places on their face and obviously not completely thinking right that 'it's just a scratch~'?" Ok, I maybe holding onto Marco and loving him a lot right now, but he was scaring me. "And not only that, but you fucking come up to him and punch him? I'm done with you. Leave."

That was the first time I'd really heard Marco cuss. Eren may not have been 'besties' with Marco, but he knew from talking to him and stories from everyone else that he was in a tie for the nicest, sweetest, most generous person in the school with Krista and Armin. His mouth opened and closed a few times and when he was about to say something more Marco cut him off, "I'm not telling you again."

Eren left and as Marco shifted me in his lap I looked over his shoulder. He had pulled Mikasa over, Levi, Krista, Erwin, Reiner, Connie, Petra, Sasha, and Ymir all either getting into the conversation or within earshot. The game had stopped or paused momentarily. Mikasa looked our way with what looked like a surprised face, but it was hard to tell from this distance. Connie covered his mouth with his hand and Sasha hugged him from the side, looking over with a definitely worried expression. Levi looked pissed off, not just his usual I'm going to kill everyone face, but he looked genuinely pissed off. He patted Eren on the shoulder after he put his head in his hands. I guess Marco got through to him. Reiner looked lost in thought... I couldn't see anymore because Marco put my head back on his chest.

"Alright, I need you to do what I say, Jean. I'm going to get you down from here. Put your arms around my neck. I'm going to retract your gear once I figure out how... but it's gonna feel like you're falling because it's going to be both of our weight on one gear set, ok? But don't panic, I'm here and you're not gonna fall," He said and pet my hair again. Every time he'd run his fingers through my hair or place his hand on it the pain and pounding would weaken. I slowly put my arms around his neck and after a minute I felt a rush as his feet slid on the wall and our weight combined on one gear.

"Now, we're going to got to the others so I need you to hold on tight. I have you, but you need to not let go of me," He slowly said. I tightened my grip enough so that my knuckles turned white and I felt like I was going to be sick as we began to slowly fly through the air. I knew that we looked like a gay, modern city Tarzan and Jane. I was slightly worried about the weight thing, but it wasn't that far to the other's so I didn't really worry. We stopped and it felt weird. I figured it was just my head, but Marco was moving me again. I pulled myself closer to him once he was done moving me to a bridal style in his arms.

"Jean!" Sasha cried as she raced over to me. She was seriously crying and I say Connie come up from behind her looking like he was about to and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Umm not deade," I mumbled while stuffing my head back into Marco's chest.

"Yeah, but you look like shit," Levi said as he pushed the two away to look at me. "We should get you some help, but I hate hospitals and their arrogant workers, and I know someone nearby, so I guess we should wait here for the freak to show up." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted someone. "She'll be here in a minute. She was in her lab, but had to grab her gear from storage."

Eren walked over after Levi said that. "Listen, Jean, I-"

"Go away Eren," Marco cut him off again.

"But I-," Eren shut up when Marco gave him that look again.

"Go," Was all that he said and Eren slowly walked back to Armin and Mikasa. Bertholdt came back from behind the building then with cuts on his arms and a thorn bush twig stuck to his leg. Reiner ran over to him and talked quietly to him. Both of them looked at each other, then they both looked like they were deep in thought again.

"When I got a text from someone saying I need help out by Storage Room F, I never thought it'd be Levi," I put my head back and saw an upside-down view of Hanji Zoe smiling at Levi. I quickly put my head back, as the upside-down world made my head spin. "Oh god, what happened? Lay him down and put his head up on your lap or something," She instructed Marco. He did just that by facing us both the same way, sitting on his knees and placing my head so that the back was on his lap and the top was on his stomach. I reached up to grasp at his shirt, but he put my hands back down and bent down to kiss my chin.

"Alright, Petra, grab someone and go to the entrance to get some water. Connie, Sasha, go with them and go to where they have the first aid kits, bring back one or two," She called and Petra turned and grabbed he closest person which was Auruo (who just showed up and had no idea what was going on) and the four were off. It took about seven minutes for the four to show up two at a time, during which I continued to reach up and grasp for Marco's shirt, but he kept putting my hands down and telling me to relax. Each time this happened Hanji would giggle and pulled on whomever's leg was closest and point it out. It was always Mike though and he'd just smile kindly toward Hanji and nod his head.

Hanji cleaned my face and arms of blood and dirt, then bandaged me and did a few tests. I felt much better after some painkillers and cleaning up, though my head still hurt and I was exhausted and sore. Soon enough Hanji announced that she was 'done'.

"So, I really don't think you have a concussion by some miracle. Your nose isn't broke, there is a long explanation as to why it bled that no one wants to hear. Your ear will need to be checked by a certified doctor by next week, no rush though. Your head will hurt for a long time, but most of it right now is exhaustion and shock. Adrenalin has had its way with you, and it can screw you up for some period of time. Every six or so hours when you're awake for the next two or three days take this, it's just over the counter painkillers. Don't eat anything too acidy or hard on your stomach, you also had huge bruises on your arm, so your arm was hit by one stick and your face with another, or more accurately, your ear. But, there was a bruise on your stomach that just recently formed, and I don't see how with the location of the other two hits unless she kicked you. Please be more careful, and play nice you guys," She looked at me, but was speaking more to all of us.

"Eren punched me," I gurgled and placed a hand on the bruise as I began to sit up.

"I'm guessing by this boy's face it was after the accident. Wait... Are you Marco? You can't be, that face resembles Levi too much," Hanji laughed and pointed at Marco, until of course Levi smacked her in the back of the head.

"Nah, it's sweet little Marco, because if it'd been Krista then Annie and Eren would be dead, seriously. I'd get a gun and hunt them down," Ymir walked up behind Marco where he was helping me sit up and patted his head.

"Jean's alright, that's what matters," He said and smiled over to me.

"Let's go get milkshakes," I said staring at him. Everyone burst out laughing, even Reiner and Bertholdt were pulled from their thoughts at that. I didn't see what the problem was, I was hungry, but didn't want to eat.

"That sounds nice," Marco chuckled and kissed my nose.

"Ok, so we're all going to Trost Treats and getting shakes, then where? If Jean wants to go somewhere, if not, I'll take 'em home," Reiner asked.

"Since my team was injured we're going to your house," Levi quickly said.

"I'm fine, I just really want my shake now," I said as Marco helped me up. We all got back to where we left our stuff, Annie had texted Reiner and said that she left, which Eren got hotheaded about, and Marco and Erwin got upset about. I pulled Marco's large hoodie on and Krista put Ymir's pullover on. Connie buttoned his jacket on Sasha and Erwin tried to offer Levi his jacket, but got a response of 'I'm not your clingy girlfriend' so he instead offered it to Petra who smiled and gladly accepted it.

We all got into our vehicles and as soon as Marco and I were in Reiner's truck, I fell fast asleep curled up in the middle seat on pressed to his side. I was only woken up once during the drive to be asked what flavor I wanted when we went through the drive through and apparently bacon wasn't a good answer, so I got banana. I fell asleep on the ride back to Reiner and Bertholdt's shared apartment to.


	7. Just Some Fun After the Storm

**This chapter was pretty fun to write, just on principle. I hope that this will be entertaining. This chapter is basically them being teenagers.**

**Warning, this chapter is a bit edgy, one of the reasons why the story is rated Teen. Nothing 'bad' happens though, I just thought it'd be polite to give warning. **

**I in no way take credit for the song used in the story. **

**Enjoy~**

* * *

_**Marco's POV:**_

Jean had his head resting on my shoulder and some of my chest, my arm around his shoulders as he slept softly. It was adorable beyond belief, but I kept looking at the bandage that completely covered his ear. Reiner's car was leading the way, and when he suddenly pulled over, so did everyone else. I gently shook Jean and his eyes fluttered open.

"Morning sleeping beauty," I laughed.

"I'm a princess and don't you forget it," Jean said while getting up and rubbing his eyes. He was being sarcastic, but by the way his eyes opened, I was waiting for a tiara to be placed on his two-toned hair.

Reiner stepped out of the car and walked back to the first car behind us, Erwin's van. Seeing the confused look on my face, Bertholdt explained.

"Reiner and I were talking, and we thought that it'd be a good idea to see who was up for a sleepover. That is, if Jean's up for it. We pulled over to see who needed to talk to parents or grab some stuff from home," He said and went back to staring out the window. He never spoke much to me, and I was worried I had offended him, but Reiner had assured me that he usually keeps to himself.

"Yeah, if Marco's mom is cool with it. And Marco," Jean mumbled, stretching as much as he could in the truck.

"If you and Reiner could give us a ride back, if not we could see if someone else can," I really didn't want to make the hosts drive us back and drag everyone who didn't need to go home follow.

"No need, everyone who's even able to come over now is going home to ask permission or grab some things. Eld, and Gunther just got a text that someone's sick and they need to go take care of that," Reiner said as he opened the truck door, surprising everyone inside.

* * *

_**Jean's**_** POV**

Once we got to Marco's house Reiner said that they'd be there, but to hurry, because he could see himself having forgotten to lock the door, Sasha and Connie showing up and proceeding to eat everything.

We ran inside and Marco pulled his mom over from where she was in the kitchen. I stood awkwardly in the doorway and watched as Marco talked to his mom. She looked slightly worried as her head turned towards me. Marco nodded his head and said something before motioning for me to come over.

"What happened to you, you look awful and I know you didn't leave this house with those bandages," His mom asked.

"Well, there was an accident while we were playing a game," I explained while rubbing my neck.

"You boys," She sighed.

"Actually a girl kicked my as-ces. My Aces right out of the game..." I quickly changed my sentence.

"Uh-huh, aces. Well, be careful and if you need something for it let me know," She offered.

"Alright, thank you ma'mom," I caught myself again from saying ma'am.

"And I don't want to get in trouble for stealing some man's kid," She told me.

"You won't. If he wants me back he'll call. I've left for a week or two at a time before he called and asked me to pick something up from the store," I assured her. She looked pretty upset, but nodded her head again.

"You two can go, but I'm not sure what clothes of Marco's will fit you. Hmm, I'm pretty sure Dakota may have some boxers his Grandma gave him, she always buys him adult sizes instead of kids. Umm, Marco must have some string tie sweats that you can borrow, and loads of shirts that'll be big and comfortable for you," She smiled at us and ushered us into the direction of Marco's room.

Marco told me to sit on his bed while he stuffed a black shoulder bag that his older sister gave him with various clothes. I wasn't paying too much attention until I felt something on my cheek. Marco was sitting next to me at a distance, leaning over and only touching me with his lips on my cheek. I smiled and pulled him closer. We shared a short kiss and Marco's mom called up at us reminding us of our friends outside.

"Do you need to bring anything? I have dinner here if you'd like to pack a bit to share with friends. Angeline has some cookies in the pantry that you can bring, I'll tell her that she ate them all already and get her more," She offered.

"You know what, I think I'll bring the cookies," Marco decided and went off to get them.

"Sarah, about how long until- who's this?" A man standing at about 6'4 walked into the kitchen as soon Marco was gone.

"This is Jean, Marco's friend. Well, boyfriend," Marco's mom walked beside me and put her arm around me.

"Is he staying for dinner?" The extremely tall man asked, looking me up and down a few times. He had almost as many freckles as Marco, but not quite enough. He had Marco's black hair that sometimes looked brunette, and his tan complexion.

"No, he and Marco are going to spend the night with a ton of friends. Honestly, Greg, I though the list would never end. Who's all coming Jean?" She looked at me, probably hoping to calm my awkward, tense, nervous silence.

"U-umm... Marco and I, Sasha, Connie, Ymir, Auruo, Krista, Levi, Petra, Mike, Eren, Armin, Hanji, Mikasa, and it's at Reiner and Bertholdt's house," I said looking at the ceiling and counting on my fingers.

"You're allowed to be affectionate with him, but if you touch my son in anyway-" I was officially ready to run when Mr. Bodt said this.

"DAD!" Marco came around the corner clutching the cookies in one hand.

"I was just saying," 'Greg' responded.

Marco sighed, coming over to me and putting an arm around the side that his mom wasn't at. "We'll be back tomorrow, promise. We have a project to do."

"What kind of project?" Marco's father asked looking very angry. He was answered with a chorus of 'DAD!' 'GREGORY BODT!' and 'what?'

"Just pulling your legs, boys. Have fun, and thanks, Jean. You certainly have given my Marco quiet the social life," He smiled, finding a place on my arm to pat. "So dear, about dinner?"

"You about gave that boy a heart attack and all you can think about is food," Was the last thing that Marco and I heard as we left the kitchen and made our way to the door. We were almost there when a small figure blocked our way.

"Are those my cookies?" Was all that the small, brown bob-cut girl said.

"Umm no," Marco said, though it was more of a question.

"Yes. They are. Do you know what happens when a thieving sibling steals my cookies?" She threatened. I almost laughed, but Marco definitely wasn't laughing. The little girl could speak pretty well for, if this was Angeline, a four years of age girl with her two front teeth barely coming in.

"But mom bought them and-" Marco was cut off.

"Marco!" She warned. Marco silently handed her the cookies and grabbed my hand, leading us out the door. Once the door was shut I couldn't help myself.

"Did you just get bullied by your four year old sister into giving her your cookies?" I asked.

"Shut up, you don't understand!" He whined pushing into me as we made it to Reiner's car.

"Uh-huh," I smiled as we got into the truck. The ride back was once again, quiet. We were the first ones to the apartment building and so we waited by the door for the others to arrive. Marco and I huddled together to keep warm, well... I buried my face into his chest and he put his arms around me. Reiner slowly moved closer to Bertholdt until he was pressed snuggly against him, then Bertholdt put his arm around his shoulders. They all eventually came, arms full of clothes bags and treats. The half melted milkshakes either drank or half drank were forgotten or being thrown in the trash.

We all followed Reiner up the steps, the elevator was forever "OUT OF ORDER" with a half erased penis on the bottom of the sign on the second floor.

"I really need to completely erase that, Mrs. Hutts has to shield her children's eyes when they hit the second floor," Bertholdt muttered to himself as he looked at the defiled sign.

"Is it really for moral reasons, or are just jealous that it's longer than yours?" Reiner snickered looking back at the now red teen.

"Reiner!" Bertholdt scolded.

"It's ok Ber, we all saw this coming," Was Ymir's response. Bertholdt simply groaned, covered his face with one hand, and poked Reiner in the back silently asking him to speed up.

"Here we are," Reiner said as he unlocked and opened the door to their apartment. It wasn't too big, but it was definitely not small. They were getting a good deal on it to.

"Where do you want us to go?" Sasha asked as she entered the doorway.

"Uh, over by the TV should be fine," Reiner pointed to a medium sized TV with a couch and some other seats in front of it. Once everyone dumped their stuff by the door and was situated in front of the TV, Reiner went to turn it on. Nothing.

"Shit! It broke again," He cursed.

"Well, I hope that the only thing you planned wasn't just sitting and watching television. What else can we do?" Eren asked.

"Oh! We could play games!" Krista suggested from her spot on a love seat, well Ymir was on a love seat, Krista was on Ymir's lap.

"Like what?" Connie jumped into the conversation.

"Hmm, Truth or Dare?" She looked around at all of us.

"That game is shit," Was Levi's response.

"Com'on it'll be fun with everyone here," Eren said giving Levi puppy eyes.

"Whatever," Levi looked away.

"Alright, but the dares have to be mild and if the truth is really embarrassing you can be vague in your answer, but you have to be truthful," Reiner laid down the rules.

"That's no fun," Ymir argued.

"It's also no fun when feeling start getting hurt and cops show up," Armin reasoned.

"Fine," Ymir huffed.

"Ok, Krista first. You're idea," Erwin said.

"Yay! Umm... Mikasa, truth or dare?" She asked

"...Truth."

"Have you ever... kissed anybody?"

"Yes," Mikasa's answer was followed by a few cat calls and 'ooohhh's.

"Whatever. Eren truth or dare?"

"Dare!"

"Ok, I dare you to tell me if you kissed anyone and who."

"Yes and someone," Was his answer.

"You can't do that!" Connie shouted.

"WHO?" Mikasa questioned.

"Mikasa asked someone else," Erwin stopped all arguments.

(Mikasa) "Fine, Armin truth or dare?"

(Armin) "Uh, truth?"

(Mikasa) "Describe the strangest dream you've had in your life."

Armin: "There were these giant humans with no genitals and deformed bodies that ate normal people and then one broke down the walls that protected where all of humanity was and they were based off of our school's walls. Then another came, it was smaller than the other, but still larger than the other ones, an it destroyed a lot. Then other stuff happened and Eren was a titan, that's what we called them. Levi beat him up and Dawk was the head of another military fraction, oh yeah, we were in a training thing, then in a military fraction that went beyond the walls to research titans and-"

(Eren) "Ok, you suck at telling stories in the first place, but I feel like you should stop."

(Armin) "Ok... Uh, Ymir, truth or dare?"

(Ymir) "Dare."

(Armin) "I dare you to... Kiss someone in the room!"

"Ok," And Ymir proceeded to make out with Krista for 10 seconds.

"Oops," Armin sounded totally defeated.

(Ymir) "Ok, Marco, truth or dare?"

(Marco) "Umm, truth."

(Ymir) "Are you a virgin?"

(Marco) "Y-yes!"

"Shoulda seen that coming," Ymir rolled her eyes.

"Uh, Connie, truth or dare?" Marco quickly asked.

(Marco) "Touch your nose with your tongue, if you can't then touch another person's nose."

(Connie) "I can do that. Ngh! Naaa! No I can't..."

(Sasha) "Who's nose are you gonna lick then?"

"Yours," And Connie quickly leaned to the left and kissed Sasha's nose. "I didn't want to get your nose slobbery so I kissed it."

"Yeeeaaaah, that's why," Reiner smirked.

"Ok, Reiner. Truth or dare?" Connie gave him a death glare.

(Reiner) "Dare."

(Connie) "I dare you to give Bertholdt Fubar a lap dance until I say stop."

Reiner and Bertholdt looked at each other a bit horrified. Sasha had already pulled a chair over and was dragging poor Bertholdt into it. Reiner reluctantly stood. As soon as he was fully standing Eren pantsed him and explained to him that he must be in his underwear for this.

"I'll give you 100 bucks for a good one, Reiner. You know what? 100 EACH!" Ymir yelled.

"Do you even have that much?" Reiner asked as he finished taking off his pants to reveal black boxer briefs that hugged his muscular body well.

"Actually, right here. My mom gave it to me to replace this old vase of mine she broke. I didn't really care about it and I wasn't going to replace it, and this is much better than an antique vase," Ymir couldn't stop smiling. Eren then took off Bertholdt's blue long sleeve shirt, which he reached for, but Eren put him back into the seat and pointed at Ymir waving the 200 bucks in her hand.

"Let's go!" Connie shouted, loving his dare already.

"Wait! Music!" Sasha yelled and played a random song on her iPod. It was _'Sweater Weather' _by the Neighbourhood. She had told us about downloading it a few weeks ago.

_'All I am __is a man_

_I want the world in my hands_

_I hate the beach, but I stand_

_in California with my toes in the sand_

_Use the sleeves of my sweater_

_Let's have an adventure'_

Reiner was now straddling Bertholdt in the chair. He looked back with bright red cheeks to Connie who motioned for him to continue.

"It's just our friends. We'll never live this down, but it'll be in an endearing way," Reiner mumbled as he slowly started to move his hips awkwardly on top of Bertholdt. A few snickers were heard. I looked over to Marco and he looked disappointed beyond belief. He wasn't looked at how Betholdt was trying to hide his pleasured face and Reiner doing the same, that only we could see from our far corner seats.

"Hey, this is just messing around. Yeah they took it too far, but this is as bad as it'll get. We never do anything like this often or meaner than this," I assured him.

"Ok, that's enough," Connie said, red in the face from laughing.

"Wait, let's give them their clothes and give them time to recover from this scarring and traumatizing event," Marco jumped up and gave them their clothes, pushing them towards the bathroom.

"You're too nice Marco. They did earn the hundred though," Ymir nodded her head.

Bertholdt and Reiner showed back up after a few minutes with slightly red faces, but sat back down in the circle none the less.

"Sasha, truth or dare?" Reiner asked.

"Dare!"

"Put lipstick on Connie without using your hands," Reiner smiled.

"But, that means feet or mouth..." Sasha frowned.

"You are NOT putting your feet near my mouth," Connie objected.

Krista threw Sasha some old lipstick she never used and looked like she was ready to pop with anticipation.

"Ready?" Sasha asked Connie who nodded his head.

After many smears and lines across his face with some side kisses in there, Connie's lips were completely covered in a light pink glaze, along with part of his face. He went to go wash it off and Sasha threw the lipstick at Reiner's head, which he narrowly missed.

"You didn't have fun?" Reiner mocked sympathy.

"Screw you!" She shouted.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" He countered.

"Whatever, umm Bertholdt! Truth! or dare~" Sasha sang.

"Why me?" Bertholdt asked, sitting back down next to Reiner after cleaning up the lipstick mess. "Truth I guess."

"Umm... I know! Do you like-like anyone in this room?" She asked.

"Uh-umm. I-I..." Bertholdt got red in the face.

"Bertholdt~" Ymir called.

"Com'on guys, no matter if the answer's yes or no, he now thinks that you think that. He's not gonna be able to speak for at least five more minutes," Reiner put his arm around said human-tomato.

The game continued a few rounds, including Ymir sticking her butt out the window, mooning the world (scarily cooperatively), Levi sticking three pieces of ice down his pants, Marco attempting a head stand five or six times, Erwin walking into the lobby, going half way through and shouting "OW!" randomly and pointing at someone as he ran back up the stairs, and Krista doing as many back-flips as she could down the hallway (A lot). Armin was stuck going to the counter man at the convenience store across the street and asking if he had 'the stuff' which everyone knew was a bad idea in the first place and ended with Armin running out of the store and not telling anyone what happened.

"You guys wanna change?" Ymir asked from upside down on the coffee table.

"Yeah, the boys can go into my room and the girls can either stay here or go to the bathroom," Reiner said.

"We're not waiting here like sitting ducks for you guys to race around the corner halfway through," Mikasa said rolling her eyes.

"We wouldn't do that!" Connie shouted.

"Yeah right," Krista mumbled, grabbing her bag and heading towards the bathroom.

Marco and I followed Reiner into his room, which was kind of a mess, but cleaner than I expected. I enjoyed the brief view of Marco's blue boxers while it lasted, though. He hit my arm when no one was looking and explained that he saw me, but not to worry because he returned the favor. It gave me a fluttery feeling in my chest to know that he did look at me, no matter the reason.

As we all made it back to the couch we talked back and forth for a bit, everyone bundling up in mountains of blankets and pillows, and smooshing together.

I was the last one up, no surprise. I always was. I looked around slowly and saw how everyone had fallen asleep. Armin had Mikasa's head in his lap. Eren had his head in -of all people- Levi's lap, but Levi was laying on Erwin's shoulder and chest. All five of them were the big couch filled with holes and poorly stitched patches. On the love seat was Krista and Ymir, Krista laying in Ymir's lap sideways. Reiner was hugging Bertholdt's side so tight in looked like the sleeping boy would burst. Petra was sitting, peacefully sleeping like an angel-an angel with a snoring pig names Auruo resting his head on her shoulder. Connie had his arm around Sasha and she was leaning on him, an empty, balled up bag of chips next to her. It was nice that we were all so close we could sleep like this, though. And me? I was on Marco's shoulder, much like Levi and Erwin, only I had Reiner's grip on Bertholdt keeping him close.

"I love you, Macro," I whispered to the sleeping boy. We may have only been dating for one/two days, but it was one hell of a time.

"I love you to, Jean," He gurgled back. I hugged him tighter when I heard his sleepy voice. I don't know if he woke up when I moved, right before I said it, or if he'd never been asleep, but damn I was happy that he was.


End file.
